Harsh Words
by JasmineLief
Summary: "Guys, I have big, BIG news for you!" Kickin' It one-shots, come on in and read!
1. Breakup

Lying on her plush, quilted bed, Kim took a deep breath.

She knew that this, dating Jack, would not work out as well as they'd hoped.

Looking up at the ceiling fan, watching the blades rotate lazily, she thought about their latest argument.

She chuckled darkly. They fought over the most meaningless things. From whether or not a match at the dojo had been won fairly to the topic of whether they had been spending enough time together or not.

This time it had been a heated battle over who was paying less attention to the other. Kim was sure Jack was being cold toward her and distant. Jack accused her of flirting with every guy she saw, regardless of who he was and forgetting that she had a boyfriend.

Lately Jack had been becoming increasingly jealous and overprotective of Kim. He would get so angry at times because of Kim talking to other guys, that he'd even go off at Jerry, Milton, and Eddie if they talked to her too much.

The other three boys had distanced themselves from this dysfunctional couple because as Jerry stated, "Yo, you gotta figure out your issues guys. Talk to us then."

Kim knew they were scared of them. They had stopped trying to hang out with either of them and tried to talk as little as possible to Kim and Jack.

Even Rudy picked up on the bad vibes and stopped being the usual, fun man he usually was when they were around.

It made Kim sick to think that because of them the group was breaking up. It was _their fault. _All of it.

Sighing, Kim sat up and unplugged her phone to text Jack.

_Go to the park. Need to talk._

Five minutes passed. Then ten minutes, and still no reply. Kim felt herself get angry and she texted him again.

_I swear Jack get your ass to the park. _

Tugging on her converse and a jacket, she looked out the window to an overly cloudy and bleak day.

Stomping down the stairs, she grabbed an umbrella and yelled to her mom that she was going out. She opened the door and stepped out onto the empty streets of Seaford and made her way to the park, kicking rocks and swatting mosquitoes all the way there.

* * *

Jack's phone buzzed bearing a text from Kim for the second time in fifteen minutes as he glanced at the message with an irritated glower.

It was _another _text saying to go to the park.

Sure, Jack loved her, he really did. But something he didn't love however was the way guys looked at her. He swore that every guy in the city of Seaford stared at Kim everywhere she went. And she did nothing to try to stop it.

He groaned, she was serious. He'd be in big trouble later if he didn't get to the park soon.

Lacing up his Vans, he glanced out the window and groaned again as he saw the impossibly gray skies, gloomy and depressing.

He swiftly made his way to the front door and got out into the muggy outdoors, glad that for once his mother was not home.

Trudging down the street to the public park, Jack addressed the issue of their many arguments. He made a mental note to himself to try not to fight with her; he knew how much it could hurt. He knew that wasn't how a relationship should be.

* * *

Kim was pacing up and down the path in the park. It was deserted. Nobody wanted to be outside when the rain came down.

She swung her umbrella around and she walked back and forth, as she thought about how she should break the news to Jack, unable to keep still.

The air was thick with the promise of rain and she could hear the rumbling of thunder in the distance.

Kim wished that Jack would hurry up and get there already. The wait was killing her.

She turned again, and to her surprise, she felt her umbrella collide with something. Or someone.

"Ouch!" came a familiar voice.

Jack.

"Sorry!" squealed Kim, rushing to him and lightly rubbing where her umbrella had hit him. "Are you okay?" she asked frantically.

"Yeah, I'm fine," he said, gingerly rubbing his head. "I'm here. You sounded like you wanted to talk."

Instantly Kim remembered why they were there and snapped her hands back down to her side, as if Jack had turned into some poisonous animal.

"Yeah, well, I kind of need to say something…" she started, suddenly more nervous than ever.

"Well go on, it's about to rain, and I don't think that umbrella is big enough for both of us," said Jack impatiently, his eyes darting up at the darkness above and then back down to Kim.

She took a deep breath and tried to sort out what it was she had to say. She lost her words for a moment, afraid. She knew she was about to break Jack's heart.

With Jack looking at her expectantly, she began, "Well, Jack. Lately I've done some thinking… And I don't think that this relationship is going to work out like we wanted it to." Each word she spoke was laced with guilt.

Jack just looked at her, disbelief and pain registering on his face. But, something else…?

"I meant, look at us Jack. We're falling apart," she continued, struggling to appear composed. "We argue all the time, and our own friends don't even want to be around us for crying out loud."

"B-but Kim, I love you," said Jack. He felt as if his heart had been ripped out and torn to pieces. His anger suddenly flooded his brain and he no longer held back. "Kim, I loved you since day one. Obviously you've been too busy _flirting _to notice that."

What he said, it hurt. A lot.

"_I've _been flirting? What about you? Every girl in Seaford is falling all over herself to get to you! And you do _nothing. _You let your jealousy get the better of you all the time. You obviously can't handle the fact that not everything is about you Jack. Do you even hear yourself?" Kim yelled.

"Oh so now you're pinning this on me? Have you ever thought that maybe I've tried to get rid of all those girls Kim, have you? At least I knew where to draw the line and tell them I had a girlfriend, unlike you. And maybe I wouldn't have to **be** jealous if you would one day point out to every guy that hits on you that maybe, you have a boyfriend?" bellowed Jack.

"**Had**, Jack. Had a boyfriend. I tried to fix this, us, but it's not working. We're over!" Kim said angrily.

Jack froze. He expected those words, but had not even thought about how much they would hurt. He looked her in the eyes one last time, and turned to leave.

He gave her two seconds to say something, anything. When she stayed silent, he knew that there was no turning back. He blindly stomped away from the park, not caring in which direction he was going.

As if on cue in some cliché romance movie, rain began to pour down all around them.

Kim just stood there, motionless, stunned at how this had ended. She had imagined it going smoother, they were going to sit and talk like a civilized couple. They were going to kiss and make up, and that would be that. This wasn't what she had wanted, but it was too late to take it back. The words had been said, and now they could never be forgotten.

She was drenched and freezing, but still she did not move. She thought even if they broke up, that they would both be okay. She should've felt free, not broken.

At this point Kim was sure she'd get pneumonia or something from standing out in the rain for so long, but she didn't care. She stood still as a statue, eyes glued in the direction that Jack had stomped off in.

It had only been a few minutes, but she already regretted every word that had escaped her lips. Her lips, which had been so sweetly kissed and caressed by Jack.

It had only been a few minutes, but she was already thinking one thing:

"_What have I done?"_

* * *

**A/N: So here you go guys, thanks for reading, I hope you liked it! So I realized, _"Hey! There aren't any stories on FF about Jack and Kim breaking up! Let's have some fun!"_** **So here we are! Don't get me wrong, I'm a total Kick shipper, I just really wanted to write this! **_  
_

**Thank you so much to UnperfectlyPerfect for being my beta, I couldn't have done it without their help! **

**Please don't forget to review, (_no flames) _and thanks again for reading everyone!**

**P.S. Did anybody watch _Karate Games _tonight? I did, and I totally fangirled at the end ;)**


	2. Magnitude 6,7

**A/N: So guess what? I've decided to put a whole bunch of one-shots here in this one story, so be happy! Here's my brainchild of the day ;)**

"Kim, honey! Don't forget your inhaler, it's on the kitchen counter!" called my mom as she left through the door on her way to work. I yelled back that I'd get it before I went to the dojo.

See, I have asthma. Ever since I was little, I had trouble with random asthma attacks. As I grew up though, I got much better. I no longer had to use it every time I exercised and I rarely got asthma attacks. It wasn't very important anymore, at least it wasn't as important as before, and so I decided not to tell the guys. I didn't want them to baby me and tell me to 'take it easy' whenever we did anything exciting or remotely rigorous. I'd had enough of that throughout my whole childhood.

As fate would have it, even though my mom hounded me about always remembering to have my inhaler just in case, I forgot it that day. As I ran out of the house and locked the door, I didn't remember at all that I didn't put my inhaler in my bag.

When I got to the dojo, Jack and I were the only ones there. A note on the door stated that Rudy had gone to Circus Burger and that he would be late. Another one read that Jerry, Eddie, and Milton were working on a project and were most likely going to be late too. I shrugged; maybe Jack and I could spar together for a while.

"Hey Kim," Jack said as he flashed me an award-winning smile. I greeted him and then went to change. As I came out and dumped my bag to the side, I saw Jack had disappeared.

"Jack? Jack, where'd you go?" I called as I looked around the dojo. "Jack, I swear if this is a jo-"

Suddenly out of nowhere, Jack ran up and pushed me over onto a pile of mats we had. I screamed and as I looked behind where I stood, Jack was doubled over in laugher and I felt like punching him. I would've too, if my heart wasn't pounding so loudly. And if the whole building hadn't have started shaking at that exact moment.

Trying to get up, I stumbled to where Jack stood unsteadily. The floor was swaying and we could hear a loud rumbling sound. The shelves holding out trophies gave way and the awards crashed to the ground. The training dummies toppled and loud crashing sounds came from Rudy's office where things were falling left and right. I looked up just in time to see the roof cracking.

I was paralyzed with fear, only was swaying back and forth. Was this how I die? I could hear Jack's voice, calling to me. He jerked my arm and as I fell, he pulled me under his body as the ceiling came crashing down.

A few seconds later, the shaking stopped. The only sounds were pieces of the ceiling that were still falling, and the sound of Jack's breathing. My heart was pounding too fast. I tried to breathe in, only I couldn't. Lights were flashing in my head; I was having an asthma attack. I started hitting Jack, I needed space, and I needed to breathe. He looked at me, alarmed. He brushed himself up and stood, helping me up too.

"Kim, Kim! What's going on, are you okay?" he asked, I could hear the concern in his voice. I started waving my hands back and forth quickly, trying to get air into my lungs. The only thing that I was inhaling however was dust and drywall.

"Asthma—can't—breath—inhaler—need," I managed to choke out between attempted breaths. I waved my arm in the general direction of my bag and tried to remember my breathing techniques. Jack stumbled over the pieces of the ceiling that had fallen, trying to locate my bag.

"_Okay, inhale for 8 seconds. Exhale for 8 seconds. Why can't I do this? I need my inhaler…"_ I thought to myself, trying to breath.

Jack had come back and started rummaging through my bag, trying to find what I had asked him for. After taking everything out, Jack looked scared.

"Kim, it's not in here. I'm calling 911," he said, dialing the emergency number. I could feel myself getting lightheaded. I sat down and tried my breathing techniques again. Nothing was working.

"Hello, yes. My friend is having an asthma attack and doesn't have her inhaler. Yes, we're at the Seaford Mall, inside the Bobby Wasabi dojo. There's just been an earthqu-" and that was all I heard before I passed out.

* * *

_Beep. Beep._

I slowly opened my eyes. A white ceiling and bright lights greeted me. Nothing made sense. I was nowhere.

"_Kim, are you awake?" _I heard a faint voice somewhere before I slipped back under.

* * *

_Beep. Beep. Beep._

Again, bright white lights are there when I woke up. I was able to look to my left and I saw a big black machine with a green line moving across it.

"_Huh?"_

Then, everything turned black again.

* * *

_Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep._

"_Yes, she's woken up a few times Doctor."_

I saw a dark figure and another bright light, shining directly into my eyes. I squinted against them and it turned off.

"_Kimberly, could you please lift your right hand to signal that you can hear me?"_

I tried to raise my hand, but it wouldn't lift. I just fell asleep again.

_Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep._

I opened my eyes again. Everything was… Clearer.

I heard the voice instructing me to lift my hand again. This time, I was able to move it as requested, but I was tired.

"Can you raise your left hand now please, Kimberly?" said the voice again.

I lifted my left hand slowly and dropped it back down. I was really tired. And my head hurt. This bed was uncomfortable.

"So is she okay doctor?"

I recognized that voice. My eyes drifted to the side and I caught sight of Jack. He looked almost as tired as I felt.

"I believe so, I just need to do a few more tests to make sure this is the last time she falls back under."

The light shined in my eyes again.

"Can you please follow the light with your eyes Kimberly?" the voice came again.

The light moved back and forth, and I followed it. The voice asked me to do a few more things before it let me go back to sleep. This time, it wasn't all darkness. I dreamed about the earthquake. I dreamed about Jack.

The last time I woke up, Jack was the only one in the room again.

"Kim, are you ok?" he asked. I nodded. "Want me to call the doctor?" I shook my head.

I guess I gave him a look that asked, "What happened? Why am I here?" because he explained everything to me.

"After I didn't find your inhaler, you passed out from a lack of oxygen. The emergency vehicle took a while because of the earthquake -it was a magnitude 6.7 by the way- so I tried CPR but it didn't work," he said.

My thoughts flickered on the fact that Jack's lips had been touching mine for a while, and I smiled.

"So when the ambulance finally got here, they strapped you into a gurney and attached all these wires and tubes to you. I rode in the back with you after some begging and I called your mom on the way to the hospital. When we got here, the doctor said you had fallen into a coma. You've been asleep for about four days. Your mom had been in and out because of work, but I've been here the whole time," he said, concern in his eyes as he finished.

Just then, my mother and the doctor walked in. When my mom saw that I had woken up again, she ran to my bed and kneeled beside it. She grabbed my hand and started crying. I wanted to tell her to calm down, that I was fine, but I couldn't make the words come out. I couldn't make any words come out actually.

The doctor assured her that I was making a good pace and that I could soon leave the hospital, "She was not severely hurt from the fall and the only thing we have left to do is to get her back on her feet. Everything will be perfectly okay Mrs. Crawford."

My mom composed herself and she sat down in a chair next to my bed.

"Doctor, Kim will be able to do karate again right?" Jack asked quickly, I could hear the worry in his voice.

The doctor took a deep breath, "Well, first we'll have to work her up to where she was and then she can begin working on her karate again. But yes, she will ultimately be able to do karate again, just not very soon."

Jack let out a sigh of relief, "Did you hear that Kim? You'll be able to come back to the dojo!" I smiled, he sounded really happy.

I moved my hands a bit until it didn't feel any different that it would've before the coma. Then I worked on sitting up. I pushed my upper body up, bit by bit, until I was in a sitting position. After that though, I was tired.

"Now Kimberly, don't strain yourself so much. You need to rest up so you can fully recover," said the doctor. "Next time you want to sit, press this button here." He showed me a set of buttons on the side of my bed that changed the position of the back of the bed. I could sit up and lay down at the push of a button.

My mom got a call from work and she had to leave, the doctor walked out as well with a promise of lunch coming soon. I was left with Jack in my room, sitting on a small sofa against the wall.

"Thanks," I said out loud, my voice hoarse from the disuse. Jack must've been surprised to hear my voice, because he looked up at me, eyes wide.

"For what?" he asked, getting up to sit on the chair that my mom had been in earlier.

"For saving me from the falling ceiling. For calling 911," I stopped to take a breath; it was hard to talk for some reason, "and for staying with me the whole time."

"It was nothing. I mean, you would've done the same for me," he said, blushing slightly. "But why didn't you tell anyone that you had asthma?"

I looked away from him, I couldn't look him in the eyes, "When I was a kid, everyone treated me like I was a baby, like I couldn't do anything on my own without getting an asthma attack. I just didn't want you guys to treat me differently. And anyway, I hadn't had an attack since I was 12."

"Well that was dumb. You should've told us! What do you think would've happened if you hadn't been able to tell me that you were having an asthma attack? You could've died Kim," he said angrily. I could see his point though; I really could have died then.

"And how's the dojo?" I asked quietly, remembering the damage that the earthquake had caused.

"About that…" he started. "Well it's going to take a while to rebuild that part of the mall. The ceiling completely caved in and there's not a stable wall in that whole section. Eddie told me that they were practicing in the school's gym. It seems that the mall was the area that was hit the worst."

"Are you serious?" I gasped. He nodded. It was then that I noticed a table with teddy bears, cards, and balloons. They all said "Get Well Soon" on them. Jack followed my gaze and explained that everyone came and visited, leaving little trinkets and cards for me. I laughed, everyone was just too sweet.

A few days later, I was released from the hospital with orders to get plenty of rest and to not push myself too hard. It took me a while to get back into the swing of things, but I was able to help rebuild the dojo and volunteer to help the people most affected by the earthquake.

After I recovered and life returned to normal, I remembered to have my inhaler with me all the time, I honestly never want that to happen again. I let everyone know about my asthma and even though nobody took it lightly, I'm not going to be treated like a baby.

Everybody in Seaford helped out after the earthquake and we're all getting better, one step at a time.

* * *

**A/N: What'd you think? I don't really like the ending, but I wanted to finish it so that's it :)  
****Don't forget to review please, it's the wind beneath my wings, my drive to keep writing!  
****Thank you so much for reading~**


	3. I'd Lie

_**I don't think that passenger seat**_

_**Has ever looked this good to me**_

_**He tells me about his night**_

_**And I count the colors in his eyes**_

My mind flashed to the time Jack and I went to a party, but got separated. In the car, we talked about what had happened that night.

"_Kim! Where have you been, I've been looking for you all night!" he says running towards me, his car keys jingling on the loop of his jeans. "It's late, we've got to get you home."_

_I nod; walking to his truck I ask him what he did at the party, "So Jack, what'd you do all night?" _

_He puts the keys into the ignition and buckles his seatbelt, "Oh God Kim, it was such a weird night."_

_I braced myself for some long explanation that would ultimately make me wish I'd never come to the party in the first place. It was Donna's party, and I wasn't even originally invited. Jack was, however. He said to her that the only way he'd come is if she invited me too. I thought it was sweet at first, but then I realized I'd be at a party with people that hate me and girls that waned Jack. I tried to back out, but the look he gave me made me melt and give into the party. _

"_So after you totally disappeared, Donna comes up to me and asks me to join a game of spin the bottle," he starts, I just look at him as he drives. "At first I try to say no because I really needed to find you, but she pulled me over to the game saying that after one round, I'd be able to look for you. Then we played a few rounds and I kind of noticed that Donna always spun the bottle really weakly so that it landed on me, weird huh?"_

_I internally cringe. That slut._

_He then continues to tell me about how after that he tried to look for me again but got sucked into a game of 'Seven Minutes in Heaven' in which he was the only guy. There were more games like those that he was forced to play, although I don't believe he was really forced to. My heart sinks with every story he tells._

_Then he asks me about my night. I don't want him to feel bad that I was sitting in a corner of her basement the whole time, stuck between a couple of potheads that were sky high and two other people that were making out the whole night. Instead I say that I socialized with whoever I met and had a generally okay time. Thankfully he believes me and drives the rest of the way to my house in silence. _

_As he concentrates on the road, I concentrate on his eyes. I count a total of eighteen different shades of brown in his irises, each quite similar yet strangely unique. _

_**He'll never fall in love he swears**_

_**As he runs his fingers through his hair**_

_**I'm laughing 'cause I hope he's wrong**_

_**And I don't think it ever crossed his mind**_

_**He tells a joke I fake a smile**_

_**That I know all his favorite songs and**_

Then I think about the time he got stood up by his date at prom, for some football jock.

_I see Jack sitting alone at a table so I break away from my group and go talk to him. _

"_Jack? Are you okay? Where's Ashley?" I ask, and I can tell he's feeling down. He looks up at me and he just looks so depressed._

"_She never showed. Sent one of her friends to tell me she found another date and that we were over," he says, twirling a toothpick on the table and putting his head down again. I know that I shouldn't be happy when he's feeling so sad, but I can't help it. Ashley was the worst thing that could've ever happened to Jack. _

_I put my hand on his shoulder, "It's okay Jack, and she doesn't know what she's missing." I wink at him and he smiles. _

"_Yeah well I'm never going to fall in love," he says as he combs through his hair with his hands. "Ever."_

_I laugh, "Come on Jack, of course you will. You've just got to find the right girl and even though it might take a while, you'll get there. Plus, this is just prom, a stupid high school dance."_

"_Yeah, I guess you're right. And I'm glad she wasn't the one. She was awfully clingy," he says with a smile. I fake a smile too; I don't want to ruin his good mood. _

_Suddenly the DJ's voice booms over the music, "We're taking a trip to the past now, who remembers this awesome tune?" _

_Bohemian Rhapsody starts playing and Jack lights up, "This is my favorite song!" He gets up and asks me to dance, even if this isn't a slow song. I agree and we step to the dance floor, but not before I think, 'Yes, I know it's your favorite song.'_

_**I could tell you his favorite color's green**_

_**He loves to argue, born on the seventeenth**_

_**His sister's beautiful; he has his father's eyes**_

_**And if you ask me if I love him, I'd lie**_

Suddenly, I'm back at Jack's 16th birthday.

"_Guess what day it is?" I ask Jack excitedly as I hold something behind my back. _

"_Um, the seventeenth right?" he asks, somewhat confused. I can't believe it, he actually forgot his birthday!_

"_Well duh Jack. But it also happens to be your birthday!" I say as I pull out a box wrapped in green paper. "There's no way I would let it slip by unnoticed. So here, happy birthday!"_

_He sighs, pushing away the gift, "Kim, I told you. I don't like celebrating my birthday. I don't want anything."_

_I shove the box into his hands again and yell, "Jack Brewer! It's your sixteenth birthday! You're going to celebrate it, no matter what you say!"_

"_Nope. Thanks but no thanks Kim," he says defiantly, giving the box back to me._

_I loose it and flip him onto the floor. As he lies there in pain, I ask, "So now will you celebrate your birthday?"_

"_Fine. Thanks Kim," he grumbles, slowly sitting up and unwrapping his present, which also happens to be green. _

_**He looks around the room**_

_**Innocently overlooks the truth**_

_**Shouldn't a light go on?**_

_**Doesn't he know I've had him memorized for so long?**_

_**He sees everything black and white**_

_**Never let nobody see him cry**_

_**I don't let nobody see me wishing he was mine**_

Then I'm transported to the 22nd of November.

_I knock on the door to Jack's house. When his mother opens the door, I'm shocked to see her eyes red and puffy. She's also wearing dark clothing. _

"_What's happened Mrs. Brewer? Is everything okay?" I ask, suddenly scared that something happened. _

_She shakes her head, "No honey, nothing happened. Are you here to see Jack?" When I nod she sends me up to his room, and as I'm climbing the stairs, I see her sitting on the floor holding a picture in her hands and crying. I wonder what's going on. _

"_Hey Jack, what's going on?" I ask as I knock and enter his room. I see him on his bed, wiping his eyes and trying to look cool. _

"_H-hey Kim. What's up?" he asks, trying to compose himself. I run over to where he sits and hug him. I still have no clue what's going on until I see a picture of Mr. Brewer, letters scattered on his bed, and a newspaper clipping. They all look very familiar. _

_Jack lets go and explains that it's the anniversary of the day his father was murdered on the streets of New York. I suddenly feel stupid. How could I have forgotten? I sat there when I sobbed and told me the whole story! _

_We sit there in silence for a long time. After a while, Jack asks me if I could go with him to the park. _

"_Sure, why not?" I reply while getting up and helping him clear up his bed. _

_By the time we make it to the park, Jack is talking about all the wonderful memories he and his father made. He suddenly stops walking and looks up. _

"_Are you okay Jack?" I ask, worried about him._

_Running his hands through his hair, he says, "Yeah, I'm fine. Except it's a terrible day for rain."_

_I look up too and shake my head, "What do you mean? It's not raining…"_

_I see tears fall down his cheeks. "Yes. It is."_

_**I could tell you his favorite colors green**_

_**He loves to argue, born on the seventeenth**_

_**His sister's beautiful; he has his father's eyes**_

_**And if you ask me if I love him, I'd lie**_

_**He stands there then walks away**_

_**My God, if I could only say**_

_**I'm holding every breath for you**_

I remember every time I've been with him. I remember how nervous I used to get around him, how I would never notice I was holding my breath until he walked away. I remember when his sister moved out and left for college. I remember every time I've stared into his eyes and seen his father staring back at me, that brave soldier.

_**He'd never tell you but he can play guitar**_

I remember when I heard him play the guitar for the first time.

_I was walking to the dojo to let off some steam; my mom and I had just had a fight. I make my way across the mall and I see a light is on. Realizing it's the dojo; I slow down and walk really quietly. _

_I hear a guitar strumming, and I wonder who's there. _

"_Hello?_

_Is there anybody in there? _

_Just nod if you can hear me. _

_Is there anyone at home? _

_Come on, now, I hear you're feeling down. _

_Well I can ease your pain _

_And get you on your feet again. _

_Relax. I need some information first. _

_Just the basic facts _

_Can you show me where it hurts? _

_There is no pain you are receding _

_A distant ship, smoke on the horizon. _

_You are only coming through in waves. _

_Your lips move but I can't hear what you're saying. _

_When I was a child I had a fever _

_My hands felt just like two balloons. _

_Now I've got that feeling once again _

_I can't explain you would not understand _

_This is not how I am. _

_I have become comfortably numb. (_

_solo) _

_I have become comfortably numb. _

_O. K. _

_Just a little pin prick. _

_There'll be no more _

_AHHHHHHHHHHHHH! _

_But you may feel a little sick. _

_Can you stand up? _

_I do believe its working. _

_Good. _

_That'll keep you going through the show _

_Come on it's time to go. _

_There is no pain you are receding _

_A distant ship, smoke on the horizon. _

_You are only coming through in waves. _

_Your lips move but I can't hear what you're saying. _

_When I was a child I caught a fleeting glimpse _

_Out of the corner of my eye _

_I turned to look but it was gone _

_I cannot put my finger on it now _

_The child is grown, _

_The dream is gone. _

_I have become comfortably numb."_

_A tear slips down my cheek for no reason, and Jack turns around and sees me at the door. _

"_K-Kim! How long have you been standing there?" he asks, fumbling with his guitar. _

"_Long enough," I say with a smile. _

_**I think he can see through everything but my heart**_

_**First thought when I wake up is, "My god, he's beautiful"**_

_**So I put on my make up and pray for a miracle**_

I remember every time I tried to lie to him, to make him believe something that wasn't real. He would always see right through me. He'd never realize how much I liked him though. Every morning I'd try to look my best for him, and wake up with his face in my mind.

_**Yes, I could tell you his favorite colors green**_

_**He loves to argue oh and it kills me**_

_**His sisters beautiful he has his father's eyes**_

_**And if you asked me if I love him**_

_**If you ask me if I love him, I'd lie**_

It's been two weeks since Jack died. No matter how many times I try to think about something else, my mind always comes back to him. I'll sing songs and connect them to Jack. I'll cry. I'll sit and think about nothing. Everything broke when he died. Including me.

* * *

**A/N: I hope you guys liked this ;)  
****This is my first ever songfic, I think I did pretty well but review so I know for next time!  
****I don't own I'd Lie by Taylor Swift or Kickin' It or Comfortably Numb by Pink Floyd...  
Who noticed my Fullmetal Alchemist reference? **probably nobody...**  
Thanks for reading!**


	4. Cancer

**A/N: Just to clear up any confusion, none of these one-shots have anything to do with each other unless I say so! And to answer a question I got in the reviews (thanks by the way for all of them!) Jack just died. Ok? He just did.  
****Once again, thanks for the reviews and all of these one-shots are not connected in any way unless I tell you guys otherwise!**

* * *

I was crying, I couldn't stop the tears. Anybody who knows me also knows that I hate crying, but I just couldn't hold back the tears. I had just been told the worst news of my life and it made me realize that it could happen to me too.

I was being selfish. I got over the fact that she died and just worried about me getting it too. There was a chance; it is a genetic thing in my family after all. My grandmother and her sister had it, my Aunt Lucie had it, for all I knew it could've been developing right then.

I stumbled downstairs into the basement and just curled up on the floor by the wall. I cried for a while longer, until it really sunk in.

_My grandmother had just died of breast cancer. _

I knew that I should be mourning, but the worry persisted.

_What if I got cancer too?_

I was shaking. There was a very real chance of me getting breast cancer as well. A slim chance, but it was still there. My mom could too. I could die. I could leave everything and everyone behind and just die.

For some reason, a song popped into my head. I needed to play. I wiped the tears from my face, still shaking. I dragged myself upstairs and into the living room where my piano stood, proud and sleek. Sitting on the stool, I wiped my face again with the back of my hand and conjured up the notes in my head of a song I fell in love with when I had first heard my grandmother had cancer.

I closed my eyes and began to play, fingers gliding over the keys gracefully and the words slipping out of my lips, barely audible.

"_Turn away_

_If you could get me a drink of water_

_'Cause my lips are chapped and faded_

_Call my Aunt Marie_

_Help her gather all my things_

_And bury me in all my favorite colors_

_My sisters and my brothers, still_

_I will not kiss you_

'_Cause the hardest part of this_

_Is leaving you_

_Now turn away_

'_Cause I'm awful just to see_

'_Cause all my hair's abandoned all my body_

_Oh, my agony_

_Know that I will never marry_

_Baby, I'm just soggy from the chemo_

_But counting down the days to go_

_It just ain't living_

_And I just hope you know_

_That if you say_

_(If you say)_

_Goodbye today_

_(Goodbye today)_

_I'd ask you to be true_

_('Cause I'd ask you to be true)_

_'Cause the hardest part of this_

_Is leaving you_

_'Cause the hardest part of this_

_Is leaving you"_

I stepped away from the piano, feeling slightly better but still afraid for my life. I felt somebody standing at the doorway. Turning, I already knew who it was before I saw their face.

"Jack?" Unbelievable. How did he always manage to show up when everything was at it's worst? When my weaknesses showed and all I could do was cry? I honestly didn't need him there; at least, I thought so.

"What are you doing here?" I asked, more harshly than I intended. He looked hurt by my tone but he just stood there and looked at me for a while. I wiped my tears again and spat out, "Well? What do you want?"

"I _wanted _to invite you to the skate park, but when your mom opened the door, she was crying and I heard you singing. She told me to go to you because something bad had happened but she didn't say what," he told me, softly and sweetly. "I didn't know you could play."

"Well I never really told anyone. And my grandmother just died of breast cancer…" I trailed off, and I knew I was going to cry again. "And we were close… And-and if she had it, I-I c-can g-get it-t."

Suddenly Jack had his arms around me and I was sobbing. I hated crying in front of Jack, it showed that I was weak and I hated being perceived as weak, but this was just too overwhelming.

"Kim, it's okay. It's not that much of a chance of you getting cancer too, calm down," Jack whispered, rubbing my back and trying to get me to stop crying.

"B-but I c-could! It's g-genet-tic!" I said between sobs. "There's a-a ch-chance!" I took breaths in big gulps and I knew I needed to control my breaths. After a few minutes in Jack's embrace, I stopped crying long enough for him to be able to actually talk to me.

"Kim look, there's a really small chance of you getting cancer. It's not that much of a freak-out worthy topic. If you want, I'll help you do some research on it and we can eliminate at least _some _of the anxiety," he said, holding me by my shoulders and looking me in the eyes. I nodded and he wiped my tears with the back of his hand. Normally I would've loved that but all I wanted to do was get rid of the fear of getting breast cancer in my future out of my head as soon as possible.

He grabbed my hand and led me up the stairs to my room. I opened up my laptop and we flopped on my bed. I searched up a few websites and let out a sigh of relief, "Only 10% of breast cancer is hereditary."

Jack hugged me again, "See Kim? Not much to worry about!" I smiled and hugged him back.

"I still have to be careful though, it's not like there's no way for me to get it, lot's of my family members have had it. There's still a chance," I said as I bit my lip.

Jack saw my look and said, "Kim, stop worrying. We'll cross that bridge when we get there."

I looked at him, "We'll?"

He blushed, "Well, we're still going to be friends later. Might as well stay with you through it all like we said we would." I smiled; it was wonderful to have a friend like Jack. "Now, can you teach me that song on the guitar? I really liked it."

Now it was my turn to blush, "Sure thing," I grabbed my guitar and went downstairs. I handed him the guitar and sat at the piano, notes and music milling through my head.

Leave it to Jack to get my mind off of everything with just a smile and a hug.

* * *

**A/N: Thanks guys for reading and I'm awaiting reviews, I love them ;)  
And I don't own Cancer by: My Chemical Romance or Kickin' It...  
And to all the women with Breast Cancer, you are all so strong and wonderful. To learn more about breast cancer, visit  
w w w . live strong . o r g  
P.S. Who saw 'Holy Christmas Nuts'? I DIDN'T SO DON'T SPOIL IT FOR ME. Hopefully I'll be able to watch it this weekend!  
P.P.S. Sorry that this is so short, I just didn't make it longer... **


	5. Left Waiting

"Hey Jack, you know we're having a dance?" asked Kim as she and Jack made their way home one December day.

"Um yeah, prom. But that's for the seniors Kim," said Jack pointedly.

"Nope. Seaford High's having a dance for the sophomores. Kind of their way of saying 'Congrats on making it halfway through high school and not killing yourself!'" she said with a sarcastic tone for the last part.

"Well in that case, congratulations Kim. We've made it a long way," Jack said with a smile.

Kim smiled and kept walking, but slower now, "Congrats to you too!"

"I didn't think we'd make it this far in all honesty," said Jack with a goofy grin. He pushed his hands into his pockets and kept walking.

"But seriously, there's going to be some dumb dance. I bet nobody's even going," she huffed, pushing a rogue strand of hair away from her face. "Do you have a date? I mean, are you even going to go?"

"Nope, I didn't even know there was a dance until you told me just now," said Jack as-a-matter-of-factly. "How about you?"

"Nah, I don't think I want to go. Nobody's probably going to ask me anyways," she said, hoping Jack would catch on to what she was hinting at. She shifted her bag on her shoulder waiting for Jack's response. After a few seconds of silence, Kim looked to the ground and sped up a bit.

"Would you go with me if I asked you?" Jack inquired. This made Kim stop in her tracks. She internally squealed, this was what she had wanted to happen.

"Maybe."

Jack furrowed his eyebrows, "Maybe? Am I not good enough for the Great Kim Crawford?"

This made Kim laugh, she loved messing with him, "You have to actually _ask_ me dumby!"

"Well, Kimberly Ann Crawford, would you like to go to the dance with me?" Jack asked with a grand bow. He grabbed her hand like a prince would do to a princess and waited for her response.

"Why, I'd love to go to the dance with you, Jackson Michael Brewer," said Kim as she curtsied. She blushed, but she didn't let him see. At last they arrived at Kim's house and they parted ways promising to IM each other before karate and saying that they'd be at the dojo later.

* * *

The day of the dance arrived and Kim was as eager as ever to get home so she could get ready. When she got home, she ran straight up to her room to get primped and perfect for that dance.

She took a hot shower and blow-dried and straightened her hair. Then she braided it into a braid-updo on the top of her head, small wisps of hair un-tucked for just the right look. She did her makeup lightly, just a bit of eye shadow here, a bit of eyeliner there, and mascara to top it all off. She finished with a bright red lipstick, and a bit of blush.

She made her way to her closet and pulled out her dress. She slipped it on and looked in the mirror. It was a short, strapless red dress. The bodice had red chiffon crisscrossing and the skirt went out a little at her hips then fell gracefully to the tops of her knees. She put on gold bangles and small gold earrings. She slipped on a pair of black peep toe heels, spritzed herself with her favorite perfume, and looked in the mirror again. She smiled, Jack would love it.

She grabbed her gold clutch and made her way downstairs, ready and excited for Jack to pick her up.

"_Five fifteen, I still have a little while before Jack comes to get me," _she thought as she made her way out to he porch to wait for Jack to arrive.

Ten minutes. Thirty minutes. An hour passed and still no Jack. Two hours, three. At three and a half hours Kim accepted the fact that nobody was coming to get her. She had been stood up, probably for Donna or something. Tears pricked the corners of her eyes and she let them fall. Soon she was sobbing, and as she lay on her porch thoughts ran through her mind.

"_I'm not good enough."_

"_I knew I shouldn't have agreed to go to this stupid dance."_

"_I was an idiot to think for even a second that Jack liked me."_

"_I'm pathetic. Crying over a dance."_

"_I'm not worth his time."_

"_Maybe he just got held up in traffic. Yeah right, traffic."_

"_Maybe he called but his cell phone died in the middle of the call."_

"_Maybe he just never asked me to the dance and I was just dreaming."_

"_Maybe there was a dance but they just cancelled it last minute."_

"_Crying feels good."_

"_I'm never going to fall for a guy again."_

"_I was never meant to go to the dance."_

"_He's probably with Donna."_

"_I hate Donna. No, I just hate Jack."_

This went on for a good hour and a half, Kim crying and thinking. She took her hair out of its styled braid and let it fall around her face. She kicked off her shoes and yanked off her jewelry. She just curled up on the floor and cried.

It wasn't fair. She hadn't even wanted to go to that dumb dance in the first place. Jack had gotten her excited to go but just ended up letting her down. She could've gone to her first high school dance. She could've gotten the chance to dance properly. She could've even had her first kiss that night, but none of that was to happen.

"Kim?" came a voice from the darkness. Kim wiped her face and quickly sat up.

"Jack? Is that you?" she called into the shadows. Her heart ached with wanting, she needed that to be Jack.

A light came on and her mother appeared, "It's me hun. Kim, aren't you supposed to be at the dance with that nice boy Jack?" she asked before she took a look at her daughter's tear-stained, makeup running face.

"N-no…" Kim bit her lip and tried to suppress the tears once more, but failed. She ran up to her mother who enveloped her in a tight hug as Kim sobbed once more. "H-he stood m-me up momma. H-he never c-came. H-he d-d-didn't ev-ven c-call!"

Kim's mother stroked her daughter's hair and spoke in a soothing tone, her southern accent making her sound even more calming, "Shh, it's alright darlin'. Don't cry hun, don't cry. It's only a dance, shh, stop crying darlin'."

Finally Kim's mother turned the sobs into sniffles and led her daughter inside. She sat her on the sofa and made some hot chocolate, because all mothers think that problems can be solved with a warm cup of cocoa. Kim curled up on the sofa and sipped the warm drink, letting it heat up her freezing cold body. Sitting outside in the cold December air had made her numb with cold. Her mother tried to get her to talk, but Kim only felt like sitting around and moping.

Finally Kim decided to go up to her room and change out of her accursed dress. She put on flannel pajama pants and a Bobby Wasabi tee shirt. Then she scrubbed her face clean and flopped on her bed; brain still filled with questions what would never be answered.

"_Why'd he ask me to the dance if he wasn't going to show up?"_

"_Why did he pretend to like me?"_

"_Why didn't he show up?"_

"_Was I not good enough?"_

She listened to her music, eyes still wet with tears that just kept falling. She just couldn't seem to fall asleep, couldn't seem to stop thinking about Jack. She lay awake through the night, thinking and crying.

She finally fell into a dreamless sleep in the early hours of the morning, and despite the horrible feeling of deception and betrayal, she knew she still had feelings for Jack. No matter what happened, no matter how much she hurt, she'd never stop loving him.

* * *

**A/N: Thanks for reading, and don't forget to review ;D  
****I don't own anything resembling Kim's dress by the way... Sorry if that wasn't a good visual though... MEH  
So thanks again and stay posted for a new update! **


	6. Left Waiting Part 2

**A/N: Ok guys, you've all asked for it so here it is, the continuation to 'Left Waiting'! This is In Jack's point of view so enjoy, and don't forget to review!**

* * *

"Hey Jack, you know we're having a dance?" Kim asked me one day as we walked home from school.

"Um yeah, prom. But that's for the seniors Kim," I said, I knew Kim was excited for prom, but we were in tenth grade. Nowhere near close to being seniors yet.

"Nope. Seaford High's having a dance for the sophomores. Kind of their way of saying 'Congrats on making it halfway through high school and not killing yourself!'" she said and I noticed a tone of sarcasm as she finished her statement. I smiled, she could be so silly sometimes and not even notice.

"Well in that case, congratulations Kim. We've made it a long way," I said still grinning, playing along with what she had said and trying to get a smile on that pretty face of hers.

I succeeded and the cutest smile played on her lips and she slowed down a bit to say, "Congrats to you too!"

"I didn't think we'd make it this far in all honesty," I said pushing my hands into my pockets, suddenly nervous for no apparent reason. We stayed in stride.

"But seriously, there's going to be some dumb dance. I bet nobody's even going," she huffed, annoyed about her hair which always kept falling in her face no matter how many times she pushed it away. Oh how I wished I could be the one to tuck that strand of hair behind her ear.

"Do you have a date? I mean, are you even going to go?" she asked, oddly enough not making eye contact.

"Nope, I didn't even know there was a dance until you told me just now," I said plainly. I would've asked her to go, but by then guys must've been lining up to ask her themselves. "How about you?"

"Nah, I don't think I want to go. Nobody's probably going to ask me anyways," she paused, and I began mustering up the courage to ask her myself. She shifted her bag on her shoulder but kept her silence. I was trying to sort out the words in my head but she started speeding up and I was left with no choice but to hurry up and ask her already.

"Would you go with me if I asked you?" I asked suddenly, unaware of what was coming out of my mouth. Kim stopped walking and just stood there for a moment.

"_Stupid Jack, stupid."_

"Maybe," she said, and I could see her cheeks turning redder and redder. That was good because it suddenly felt as if I had a 150-degree fever.

I decided to play it cool and joke around, "Maybe? Am I not good enough for the Great Kim Crawford?" This got a laugh from Kim, a glorious, cheerful laugh.

"You have to actually _ask_ me dumby!" she said giggling and giving me a look that made my knees weak. How have I lasted this long without passing out?

"Well, Kimberly Ann Crawford, would you like to go to the dance with me?" I asked and bowed deeply and royally. I summoned all the Disney movies Kim had ever made me watch and I suddenly transformed into a grand prince and Kim was my princess. Naturally, I held her hand like any self-respecting prince would and waited for her response.

"Why, I'd love to go to the dance with you, Jackson Michael Brewer," Kim said as she curtsied and fanned out an imaginary skirt. She smiled and turned away, I'm almost certain it was to hide her blushing although I was blushing madly too.

Finally we turned the corner to Kim's house and she promised she'd IM me before we met up at the dojo for practice later and I walked home feeling accomplished and excited for the dance to come.

Two weeks later the awaited day came around and the day went by so slowly that I was lucky to make it out of sixth period with my sanity. I practically flew home to make sure everything went perfectly.

I had asked my mom to borrow the car for the night. She reluctantly agreed, I begged and pleaded and made a point that Kim's house if just five minutes away and the school was even closer. I wouldn't be driving for more than ten minutes and it wasn't even going to be on busy streets or anywhere the police could see me driving without an adult in the car. Needless to say, the transportation was down.

A white rose corsage sat in a tiny clear plastic box on top or my dresser. White roses had always been Kim's favorite flower and it would match with whatever she wore that night. I was supposed to pick up Kim at five-thirty and it was roughly three forty-five. I knew I would have enough time to be ready for my Kim.

I hopped in the shower and made sure I was clean as could be. I dried myself off and made sure I had a clean-shaven face for the occasion. No patchy-face for me that night, not while I could help it. I sort of dried my hair, not in a girly way, I just made sure it wasn't sopping wet so I wouldn't ruin my suit.

I took out the hangers from my closet that pertained to my black dress pants and a red blazer. I dressed quickly in a white button-down dress shirt and made sure my suspenders didn't look weird. I secured a thin white tie around my neck and shrugged on my blazer. Splashing on some cologne and finger-combing my hair, I looked in the mirror and smiled. Kim would love it.

Before I left my room I put on my black formal shoes, my watch, and grabbed the corsage so I wouldn't forget it. I hurried down the stairs and realized that I was running a little behind schedule. It was a good thing that my mother wasn't home, or she would've held me up even more by taking every picture she'd ever need from then to the time I left for college and claiming that her "little boy is growing up so fast".

As I was reaching for the keys to the black Audi my mother drove when not using her company car, the phone rang from an unknown number.

"Hello?" I said as I picked up the phone and answered the mystery caller.

"Yes, is this the residence of Kylie Brewer?" said a crackly yet official-sounding voice on the other end.

"Yes, it is. Her son Jack Brewer is speaking. Who might I ask is calling?" I said uncertainly into the phone.

"I regret to inform you, Jack Brewer, that your mother has been in a car accident and is currently receiving treatment in the Seaford Community Hospital. If you would like to visit her, feel free to drop by and ask for Doctor Smith, which is I," said the man.

"Th-thank you sir," I said as I hung up the phone and dropped to my knees. This couldn't be happening. My mother. In an accident. I refused to believe it. There was no way. She was always such a careful driver, never straying over the speed limit, never taking her eyes off the road. So how was it that she was a victim in a car accident? And how was it that she ended up in the hospital? Was it really that bad?

The dance had left my brain and all I could think about was that I needed to get to my mother. I picked up the keys from the floor; I must've dropped them in the shock of the news.

I ran to the car and turned on the ignition. I didn't exactly know the way to the hospital, but I had seen it before and I sort of remembered where it was. I drove through the darkening streets of Seaford, desperate to reach my mother before my worst nightmares came true.

"Please let her be okay, please let her be okay," I muttered to myself as I sped through the town. At last I reached the hospital and asked for Doctor Smith as I was instructed to do. A nurse came and asked me my relation to the patient and led me through the confusing hallways that all looked the same and smelled like antiseptic and latex.

"Please let her be okay, please let her be okay," I repeated over and over until we reached my mother's room.

"Here we are young man, Kylie Brewer's room," said the nurse as she opened the door and let me through.

"Mom," I gasped as I saw her. She was lying in the hospital bed asleep. She was covered in bruises and scratched and her head was bandaged. Her left arm had something on it that looked like a cross between a splint and a cast. Her right arm had tubes and wires poking out from it at all angles. Tears sprang to my eyes but I held them back, I had to be strong for her.

I approached her bed and knelt beside it, gently holding her hand and I whispered into her ear, "Mom, everything's going to be okay, I'm here. It's going to be all right."

I was informed that a drunk driver had hit her car head-on and that the driver had died. She was lucky to be alive, according to the doctor. She had a few cracked ribs, her left arm was broken, she suffered a minor concussion and she had several cuts and bruises. I was welcome to stay with her for the night but I kindly declined, I'd much rather be at home and know that my mother was in safe hands than stay in the hospital that smelled like cleaning products and people and worry all night long.

I drove home cautiously, paranoid about getting in an accident or being caught out late by the police without an adult. When I got home and took off my jacket, I remembered that I was supposed to go somewhere but I brushed it off at first. Walking into the kitchen and seeing the white rose corsage, I instantly remembered about the dance, and about Kim. I had never shown up, not even so much as called to tell her that I couldn't make it. She probably thought she had been stood up, but then again, that was what happened.

I whipped out my cell phone and called Kim, but I was sent straight to voicemail. Either her phone was off or she ignored the call. Either way, there was no chance or reaching her by phone. I ran to my computer and signed into my instant messenger only to be greeted by the server saying that /Kim.C was not logged on.

I brought my hand up to my forehead and cursed myself for being so stupid. She would hate me, I was sure of it. I was the only dumbass in the world that stood up the girl he loved and not even think about it until it was too late.

* * *

**A/N: So, did y'all like it? I hope you did ;D  
And so that's the reason Jack didn't pick up Kim and go to the dance, he's not a jerk! (Just concerned for the only family he has left ;D)  
Again, I hope you guys like it, thanks for reading, and please don't forget to review!**


	7. Meet Me Under the Mistletoe

**A/N: Before we begin, I want to say Merry Christmas to everyone, and I hope you can all spend a wonderful holiday with your family and friends this season!  
**

**To honor this holiday season, I present you with my gift, a holiday themed one-shot!  
Just warning you, although it doesn't fit with the theme of the collection, I want to put it here. Thanks and read away ;)**

* * *

"Come on Eddie, we have to decorate now or by the time everyone else gets here, it won't be a surprise!" called Kim from the front door to the Bobby Wasabi Dojo. The previous year they had disagreed on just about everything on the window display and blew out the circuit breaker on that side of the mall. Needless to say, this year would be simple, classic, and well, Christmas-y.

"I'm coming Kim! Calm down, I just need to finish getting some boxes up from the storage space Rudy has downstairs. Come with me?" he asked as he jogged out the door, keys in hand. Kim rolled her eyes, but agreed to help her friend and they retrieved the rest of the boxes of decorations.

"So how do you feel about this guy-" Kim pointed to a Santa figure that came up to about her waist, "sitting on this box-" she pointed to a white box that brought him up to about shoulder level, "and then wrapped boxes all around him for the first window here," she motioned to the left-hand window.

Eddie tried to visualize it, scrunching his face up in a weird expression. Kim had to bite her finger to stop from laughing.

"Okay, and how about we throw some of this extra snow all around it and instead of just empty boxes, we can put all of our real presents there. It solves the problem of finding money to get a Christmas tree too," he said finally. Kim's eyes widened and she quickly agreed.

"Eddie, that's a great idea!" she squealed as she jumped up and down. "This is going to be the best Christmas display ever!"

"I know right? And we're actually agreeing and not fighting over it this year!" he said happily as he began to take out the necessary items for that window. Just when he was about to begin placing the stand for the Santa, Kim stopped him.

"W-wait! You need to come up with something for the other window!" she said anxiously. "That way, we both get our ideas featured and we can finish this much faster! Not to mention that we still have to do the inside too!"

They discussed, decorated, and celebrated their newfound cooperation and they finished long before the others arrived and they were so excited that they almost forgot Eddie's favorite decoration, mistletoe.

"Wait Kim, we forgot the mistletoe! How am I going to get the ladies to kiss me if there's no mistletoe!" Eddie exclaimed, frantically searching for the old ribbon-around-some-hair mistletoe that Rudy made one year.

"Eddie, don't worry, I'll go buy some. Besides, nobody, and I mean _nobody _is going to want to kiss you underneath that nasty thing made out of hair. That's just gross," Kim said with a shudder as she remembered the nasty dark hair that couldn't have been Rudy's, and she wondered whose it was for a moment before deciding that it was to disgusting to think about. "Don't forget to lock up before you leave ok?" she called back as she grabbed her purse and left the dojo, thinking about a certain someone she would like to get caught under the mistletoe with.

* * *

Jack spotted Kim, who was on her way to the dojo and sprinted to catch up with her. "Kim! Wait up!" he called, getting her attention and also the attention of everyone within a 100-foot radius.

She turned and smiled at him, stopping to wait for him to catch up. "How are you not cold?" she asked, motioning to his attire. He wore basketball shorts, a Bobby Wasabi tee shirt, and sneakers.

Jack just smiled and asked, "How are you not dying of heat?" And he looked at what she was wearing. She sported long pink sweats, a long sleeve thermal pink shirt, and a pair of boots.

"Touché," she said, still smiling as they approached the dojo.

"Wow, you guys did a great job with the windows this year. And you didn't overdo it," Jack said in amazement. "But doesn't the Santa window look a bit empty to you?"

"It is now," Kim said, "but we're going to put all of our presents there because we don't have an actual Christmas tree."

"Oh, that's a good idea actually," said Jack with a grin. "After you," he opened the door to the dojo and they stepped in.

"OOOOOOOHHH!" came the voices of all the guys as they walked through the threshold.

"What?" asked Kim nervously. Then it hit her: the mistletoe.

"What's going on?" Jack asked innocently, unaware of the sprig of green that hung above his head. He just stared confused into the dojo, frozen where he stood, waiting for an answer.

"Yo, look above your head man," said Jerry with a huge grin. As Jack looked up, he swallowed nervously. The mistletoe only meant one thing, he had to kiss Kim.

"See, Baldur, he was the son of Thor. He woke up one day and everything alive hated him. Animals, plants, everything wanted to kill him. His mom and wife asked everything to leave him alone and they did. When he was celebrating his chest hurt a lot and he had been stabbed and killed by an arrow of mistletoe, the one plant his wife and mom forgot. We hang it now as a symbol to never forget and kiss under it to remember his wife and mom who forgot. At least that's one of the stories," Milton said smartly. "Another one says tha-"

"Milton, quit it," Eddie said, cutting the redheaded nerd off in the middle of his sentence. "Jack, Kim, you guys have to kiss now."

Kim was suddenly really nervous. She had wanted Jack to kiss her, but she didn't know it would be so nerve-wracking. She turned and looked up and him, who also looked quite nervous.

"W-well, I don't think that's such a good idea…" said Jack quickly before Kim leaned up. "I mean… I don't like Kim like that. It'd just be weird."

Ouch.

Kim knew it was true but it still really hurt, "N-no, he's right. It'd be t-too weird. U-um, excuse me," she said as she dashed out of the dojo before the tears began to fall. She knew it was a dumb thing to cry over, Jack just didn't want to mess up their friendship. But the fact that Jack could say it so easily, that was what got to her.

"_I don't like Kim like that."_

The words rang through her head as she slowed to a walk in front of the theatre.

Joan spotted her and jogged over, "Well, how are ya soul sister?" When Kim said nothing she somewhat understood. "Did something happen between you and Mr. Kicky Kicky Chop Chop?"

Kim nodded and wiped her face, "We got caught under the mistletoe and he said he didn't want to kiss me."

Joan sighed; she knew what a broken heart felt like, "Eleventh grade. Joey Harper and I liked each other, but we didn't want to admit it. His friend dared him to kiss me and he didn't want to. Know what I did?"

Kim shook her head, knowing Joan, it was probably something crazy.

"I kissed him anyway. Sure he ran away screaming that 'the crazy girl' kissed him, but I did what I wanted to do," she said. "If you want to kiss him, just do it. I'm sure he likes you as much as you like him."

Kim blinked, that was the first time she had gotten sound advice from her mall-cop friend. Sure it came with a crazy back-story, but it was still better than when she told her to tie up Jack and shove him in her shed.

"Thanks Joan, that made me feel better," she said with a watery smile. "I'm going to do what _I _want to." She turned and headed back to the dojo, mustering up all the courage she possibly could. What she was going to do could either break their relationship or take it to a whole new level. Either way, it was a risk she was willing to take.

* * *

She opened the door to find that everyone was already practicing. Without making eye contact with anyone, she wordlessly walked to where Jack was practicing, took his hand and led him outside.

"H-hey! Wait Kim!" he exclaimed as she dragged him across the room and out the door. At last, they were outside and Kim spoke.

"I know you don't want to kiss me and think it's weird, but I kind of need to do this," she said quickly, before Jack could say anything. She leaned up and gave him a peck on the lips.

She turned to leave, embarrassed that she had just kissed him, but he stopped her. "Kim, the reason why I didn't want to kiss you was that everyone was looking. I wanted to have my first kiss with you in private, just like this."

He pulled her in and kissed her again, softly and sweetly. When they broke the kiss, Kim just stood there, dumbfounded and silent.

"Come on, let's go inside. And this time I _will _kiss you under the mistletoe," Jack said, flashing an award-winning smile at Kim and taking her back inside. When they were underneath the mistletoe, Jack spun Kim around and kissed her in the most dramatic way he could. Kim could hear the gasps and exclamations of happiness coming from the guys but she could've cared less. She only cared about Jack right at that moment.

He pulled away and whispered, "Merry Christmas Kim."

* * *

**A/N: Okay, cheesy I know, but I had to. I hope you all liked it but I won't know unless you review! Thank you do much for reading and soon you'll get back to the sadness that I love to write about. ;) **

**Happy Holidays and God bless you all!**


	8. Thanks Jack

_**On the first page of our story**_

_**The future seemed so bright**_

Jack and I were always so close. We were best friends, we were in love, we were happy. We had our whole lives ahead of us; we didn't see anything getting in our way.

We were going to date through high school, go to the same college. He would propose to me after graduation and we'd get married. We'd have kids and we'd grow old together.

Jack and me.

That's how it was supposed to be. That's what we fantasized about when the other wasn't looking. That's how we planned it out to be, and that was how we'd grow up. Together. In love.

_**Then this thing turned out so evil**_

_**I don't know why I'm still surprised**_

_**Even angels have their wicked schemes**_

_**And you take that to new extremes**_

Suddenly, we began to argue.

"_Well I don't see how I can't go somewhere with my _friend _Asher. He's a friend! It's not like he's going to steal me away or something!" I said, my frustration with Jack building._

"_How am I supposed to know what Asher could do? He could try to kiss you or try to do something to you! It's already happened before," said Jack whose temper was also heating up. _

"_Yeah, and I've handled it. Jack I can take care of myself. I don't need you to be the overprotective boyfriend," I hissed and I turned to leave. "And I'm going to that movie with Asher, Jack. You can't tell me what to do."_

"_Kim..." he said quietly after me. I sighed but kept moving, I wouldn't let him win. _

Things got worse and worse but I still loved him and I knew he loved me. He never got too violent with me, only when he was extremely angry, and I knew how to protect myself. It's not like he could ever hurt me and live with himself. Right?

_**But you'll always be my hero**_

_**Even though you've lost your mind**_

Even with the arguments and fights, I knew I still loved Jack. He was always be the one I looked up to, the one I admired and aspired to be like. I could always count on Jack to hold me when I needed comfort and scold me when I did something wrong. He would always be there for me, through everything and he would always apologize when he crossed the line and said something to me he regretted moments after.

I always admired how strong and sure he always was. How happy and cheerful he was when he was around the people he loved. I always wanted to be just like him in that way.

_**Just gonna stand there and watch me burn**_

_**Well that's alright because I like the way it hurts**_

_**Just gonna stand there and hear me cry**_

_**Well that's alright because I love the way you lie**_

_**I love the way you lie**_

_**I love the way you lie**_

We would fight then make up, that's how it worked.

"_I see the way you look at her Jack, don't try to deny it," I said angrily with tears pricking at the corners of my eyes. I had caught Jack staring at Donna multiple times already and I called him out on it. _

"_So what if I look at her? I'm still with you aren't I?" Jack retorted, not even trying to deny that he looked at her in a way that was nothing short of lustful. _

"_That's not the point Jack. The point is that you apparently aren't satisfied enough with me and feel the need to daydream about other girls! Jack if you love me at all you'd know that's wrong!" I screamed at him, tears in the verge of falling. _

"_Well maybe I don't, has that ever occurred to you?" Jack bellowed._

_I couldn't believe it. He never loved me._

_As if he just realized what he had said, Jack called after me as I ran from the room, "Kim! I'm sorry, I didn't mean that! I was just mad! Kim, come back!"_

_I just ran, I ran away from Jack and I ran away from his words. He said he didn't love me then expected me to believe some half-assed apology saying otherwise? This was something that I wouldn't get over for a while._

_I stopped when I reached a bridge and just stood there, looking out into the water. Out of the corner of my eye, I spotted Jack. I made no notion that I had seen him and I just cried. He stood there, watching me. He didn't say anything for a long time. I cried until I forgot why I was crying, and he stayed where he was. I didn't care; he could stand there and watch me all he wanted. Deep in the back of my mind somewhere, I knew I liked it. I liked the attention, I liked when Jack felt bad._

_**Now there's gravel in our voices**_

_**Glasses shattered from the fight**_

_**In this tug of war you always win**_

_**Even when I'm right**_

Sometimes when we got too into the arguments, things would break. Small things at first, nothing that could hurt when broken. But soon enough, glasses started to break. Cups and plates were thrown when nobody else was around, bottles shattered and even a window was broken once or twice. The screaming drowned out the sound of the breaking glass anyways.

A few times, we both knew I was right and he was wrong. You'd think the fight would end, that since we knew the outcome there was nothing to pick at. No, he'd always find something to blow up and he'd end up winning that one. It seemed at times we would fight for the fun of it.

_**Cos you feed me fables from your head**_

_**With violent words and empty threats**_

_**And it's sick that all these battles are what keeps me satisfied**_

Occasionally, one of us would get mad and threaten the other.

"_I swear Kim, say it again and I'll hit you," Jack said angrily._

"_You wouldn't dare," I challenged. I knew he wouldn't, he was Jack Brewer. I said it again, just to see his reaction, "Your father probably never even loved you."_

_Then, Jack broke. _

"_Kim, please. Please take it back. My father loved me. I know it," he said, tears beginning to form at his eyes. "Please."_

_**Just gonna stand there and watch me burn**_

_**Well that's alright because I like the way it hurts**_

_**Just gonna stand there and hear me cry**_

_**Well that's alright because I love the way you lie**_

_**I love the way you lie**_

_**I love the way you lie**_

After a particularly bad fight, Jack would always go hide away somewhere. I'd always find him, but I never told him. I liked seeing him like that, sad, still a bit mad, yet a little… Happy. Like he hated fighting but at the same time he craved it. He would usually go down to the park and get lost in its 7-acre land reserve but always end up some way or another by a small lake in the center. He would skip stones and chuck shells into the water; all the while I would secretly watch him.

_**So maybe I'm a masochist**_

_**I try to run but I don't wanna ever leave**_

_**Til the walls are going up**_

_**In smoke with all our memories**_

I thought it was fun after a while. I'd challenge Jack and he'd fight back. Not that I liked hurting Jack, no that wasn't it. I was the one that liked getting hurt. Not physically, but mentally. Sometimes things would come out of Jack's mouth that made me cry, that made me want to hurt him, that even went so far as to make me want to kill myself. I never did though, but I kept coming back for more. I couldn't get enough of Jack's anger.

When Jack tried to distance himself, to get away so we could both recover, I wouldn't let him. I'd drag him back into the hole we were in. I thought if I let him get away that he'd never come back. I thought he would end it if he got to far from me, so I never let him go. Soon I forgot all about the times before the anger, before the hatred, and all I could remember was the fighting and pain. I didn't mind, it was as if none of that had ever existed so it didn't matter to me.

_**Just gonna stand there and watch me burn**_

_**Well that's alright because I like the way it hurts**_

_**Just gonna stand there and hear me cry**_

_**Well that's alright because I love the way you lie**_

_**I love the way you lie**_

_**I love the way you lie**_

_**I love the way you lie**_

Soon enough Jack decided he'd had enough. He wasn't like me; he didn't enjoy what we were doing. So, he left.

He started avoiding me in school, he stopped coming to the dojo, and he didn't return my calls. If he was trying to do that so I didn't get mad, he failed. All that did was make me angry. Gradually I stopped going to the dojo, I stopped caring about school, and I stopped trying to get Jack's attention. If he wasn't going to love me, why should I try to love him? All the hate that I didn't feel during our fights came rushing in and I gladly accepted it. I cried at night and destroyed everything he ever gave me during the day. I cut out the day of our supposed anniversary from my calendar, that day wouldn't come to me. I started to cut myself because I missed the pain I suffered when I was with Jack. I didn't even try to cover up the marks, it's not like anybody cared about me anyway.

One day I realized cutting wasn't enough. I went to my mother's bathroom and took out her reddest lipstick. I went through every room in the house and on every mirror I wrote 'Thanks Jack'. Thanks to him I finally knew what I had to do. When I was done, I made my way to the basement and searched until I found the gun my father forgot to take with him when he moved out. I mentally thanked him too. I cut myself one last time, all the way up my arm, going deeper than I should have. I put the gun up to my head and before I could think about that I was doing, I pulled the trigger.

* * *

**A/N: So what'd you think? Worth a review?  
I realized I like doing songfics! A lot :)  
Sadly I don't own 'Kickin It!' or 'Love The Way You Lie' by Skylar Grey... :(  
Thank's for reading and I hope you liked it! Stay posted for another songfic, it's in progress :D**


	9. Thanks Jack Part 2

**A/N: Ok somebody asked for Jack's point of view for 'Thanks Jack' and I decided to do that but a bit different. And it's a bit happier for somebody who can't take any more intense sadness *cough cough you know who you are* so here you are ;) **

**Enjoy.**

* * *

"Hello?" I said into the phone. Somebody was speaking quickly on the other side but I couldn't understand. "Sorry, could you slow down please?"

"I said, Kim is dead. She killed herself and I think you should come see what she wrote around the house," said the voice that I now understood was Mrs. Crawford. Then my mind did a double take on what I just heard.

_Kim is… Dead?_

_How?_

"U-uh ok, I'll be right over…" I said as I hung up the phone. I just stood there for a moment until it sunk in. Kim was dead. She killed herself. I always thought Kim was the strongest out of our dojo, the one who could always stay levelheaded in any situation. So what could've brought her to kill herself?

We had used to date but things had gotten too out of control when we started to fight. Our relationship had become borderline abusive and I hated it. Every time I tried to stay away from it, to give us some time to recover, it just got worse. I had had it one day so I ended it and tried my best to avoid her because I knew she'd blow up in my face if I tried to talk to her after that. I never stopped watching her though; I always kept an eye on her. So naturally I noticed when she stopped doing karate, when her grades started falling, and when she basically gave up on her life. I wanted to help her, oh I really did. Every time I tried to reach out, something in my head told me not to. Something always made me hold back.

I ran out the door without even bothering to explain to my mom where I was going or when I'd be back. I sprinted down the street as fast as I could, needing to see that Kim's mom was wrong, that Kim was alive and okay. I reached her house breathless and terrified of what I'd see. I knocked on the door several times without an answer before I saw that the door was unlocked. I turned the doorknob and let myself in.

The first thing I saw was a mirror with blood red words on it. My eyes widened when I realized what they spelled out. 'Thanks Jack'

So, it's my fault? I proceeded around the house only to find it empty and the mirrors all saying the same thing, thanks Jack. I made my way up to her room, expecting to see Kim there, alive and happy. She wasn't.

The only place I still hadn't checked was the basement and I dreaded going down there because I knew what I'd find. I descended the stairs and I heard the muffled sounds of a woman crying, it was her mother. As soon as she saw me she tried to wipe her tears but it was no use. She stepped aside to show a bloody body. She stepped aside to show me Kim.

Tears immediately sprung to my eyes at the sight of my beautiful Kim lying in a pool of blood. A gun and a knife lay next to her and I saw what she had done to herself. She had cut her arm all the way up then shot herself. I didn't know what to think, there was too much to take in. Including the fact that she blamed me.

"I'm sorry Mrs. Crawford, but I have to go," I said quietly as I made my way to leave. She grabbed my hand and stopped me.

"W-why would she do this? Why?" she cried, tears were streaming down her face and she was clutching my hand so tightly, it felt as if it would fall off. I shook my head and looked at Kim's body one last time.

"Dunno, I'm sorry," I whispered. I yanked my hand away and climbed the stairs to get out of there. The smell of blood was making my head spin and tears were clouding my vision. Before I left I called 911 and told somebody to come help because I knew it would be a long time before Kim's mother left that basement.

I jogged to the park and I let my feet carry me wherever they wanted. Somehow I found myself at the lake in the center of the park and sat down on a large boulder by the edge of the water. I searched the ground for flat, smooth stones to skip but I didn't find any. I couldn't see, I was sobbing. I grabbed handful after handful of pebbles and shells and chucked them into the water as if I was throwing away all my problems.

Why did Kim have to kill herself? She could've talked to anyone. Soon enough I would've worked up the courage to talk to her again, and everything would've been okay. I mentally kicked myself for not saying anything to her, for not stepping in when I noticed something was wrong. I could've prevented this. I thought back to when I stopped talking to her, and I realized that was what had caused this to happen. But it wasn't entirely my fault, we shared the blame. I had tried to fix our relationship, but it seemed all she wanted to do was fight. I think she _liked _fighting with me.

I, for one, hated the arguments, the violence, and the pain that we had caused each other. It was unbearable to fight with my best friend, my Kim. That's not what dating someone should be like. You shouldn't have to put the other person down to feel loved. I wanted her to see that but she was blinded. I looked up at the clear skies and cursed at them. How could the day be so happy and bright when I felt so miserable? It wasn't fair.

I thought back to a fight we had one time, the only time I ever told Kim I didn't love her. She claimed she saw me staring at Donna Tobin in a way that she considered to be sexual. I was only focused on how she had something on her face that nobody was going to mention. Everybody was giggling but I held it back and I was about to go up to her and say something when Kim pulled me out of the classroom. This earned a dirty look from the teacher but it was out of my hands.

"_I see the way you look at her Jack, don't try to deny it," _she had said to me, she looked like she was on the verge of crying.

"_So what if I look at her? I'm still with you aren't I?" _I said, trying to clear up the misunderstanding and trying not to get to angry. She was accusing me of something I didn't do and would never dream of doing. Kim was my girl and she was the only one for me.

"_That's not the point Jack. The point is that you apparently aren't satisfied enough with me and feel the need to daydream about other girls! Jack if you love me at all you'd know that's wrong!" _she retorted and I could see the tears pooling up in her eyes. I was so angry that I said something I would regret the moment the words spilled from my mouth.

"_Well maybe I don't, has that ever occurred to you?" _I yelled, anger blinding me and causing the lie to erupt from my mouth. She stood there, eyes wide and tears now falling. She turned and ran away from where I stood. She ran down the hallway and out the front door of the school. _"Kim! I'm sorry, I didn't mean that! I was just mad! Kim, come back!" _I yelled after her, hoping to get her to stop so I could explain properly.

I followed her, wanting so badly to clear everything up. Wanting so badly to tell her that I loved her and that I was sorry. She ran all the way to a bridge crossing a canal we had found a few weeks earlier and leaned on the railing, looking out onto the water and crying. I stood where I was and watched her. She cried and cried, and if she noticed me at all she didn't let on. I ached to go up to her and give her a hug and a kiss. I wanted to fix everything but something told me to stay where I was, something told me to wait. Obviously I waited too long.

I reached down to get another handful of rocks but my hand caught on something and as I yanked it up, a huge gash appeared on the palm of my hand. I had cut myself on a piece of glass left there no doubt by some useless drunkard when he thought it was a fun game to break bottles along the shore of a lake. I dropped my hand to the water and washed away the blood and sand. I saw my blood dissipate in the water and the image of Kim's bloody body flashed in my head. I closed my eyes and willed the vision to go away, I would be haunted for the rest of my life by the image of my beautiful Kim lying dead in her basement.

"I'm sorry Kiwi," I whispered, using the nickname I came up with for her in the days when we were happy. She and I were the only ones that knew about it.

I found a broken pencil on the ground next to the boulder I was sitting on and I grabbed it along with a fairly large stone. I decided I'd write a message on it and sink it in the lake, hoping that the words would reach Kim in heaven where she now watched over us.

I wrote:

_Dearest Kiwi: I'm sorry. I'm sorry I avoided you. I'm sorry that even though I noticed something was wrong, I didn't do anything to help. I'm sorry that I never got a chance to tell you how much I loved you. I'm sorry. I hope everything's better up in heaven love, because it sure as hell isn't going very well down here. _

_I love you, _

_Jackrabbit_

I stood and threw the stone as hard and as far as I could, hearing it fall into the water with a satisfying _plunk_. I smiled up at the sky – no, I smiled at Kim, and turned away from the lake. As I walked away, a strong wind picked up and I heard something. It was as if the wind whispered, _"I never stopped loving you." _I smiled and said aloud, "I love you too Kim."

* * *

**A/N: So I hope you guys liked this one ;) Don't forget to review, I love hearing what y'all have to say! ;D**


	10. Coconut

**A/N: Okay so sorry for this being so short, but I wrote it at three in the morning. I couldn't sleep and this is my brainchild of the moment ;) Enjoy.**

* * *

I got a call from Kim, which was weird considering the fact that she hated how her voice sounded over the phone so she only called if it was really important. Usually if she wanted me to come over or if she wanted to go somewhere to hang out, she would just text me.

"Hey, Kim?" I said as I answered the phone. I was greeted by the sound of Kim sobbing into the phone and I knew something was wrong. "I-I'll be right over Kim, just stay there."

I bolted down the stairs and into the kitchen. I grabbed a kiwi and stuffed it into my pocket with great difficulty. I didn't acknowledge it and I just ran all the way to Kim's house. When I made it to her house, I went around to the wall her window was on and I scaled the tree next to it and tapped on her window. Kim saw me and made her way over to open the window and gave me a watery smile.

"J-Jack, you could've used the front door. You know, like a normal person? You haven't done this in forever," she said, trying to keep tears from falling as I stumbled into the room. I made my way to her bed and sat down, motioning for her to do the same. She understood and sat next to me, leaning her head on my shoulder.

"So what's up?" I asked, uncertain of why I was called over to her house in such a hurry. She started to cry again and I knew something was up. "Kim, what happened?"

"Y-you know today after math when I told you that I needed to get something from the science classroom and I ran off?" she asked. I nodded and she continued, "Well, I saw Ryder kissing Donna Tobin by the lockers." She started crying harder and I enveloped her in a tight hug as she cried, afraid to say something because I thought I'd just make things worse. Suddenly, the kiwi popped into my head again.

"I knew you liked kiwis so I grabbed one on my way out, but I think I got a coconut instead," I said as I tried to wrestle out the coconut, which I had somehow managed to shove into my pocket. I handed her the round fruit and clasped my hands together, waiting for her to say something.

"You got a hammer?" she asked softly, turning the coconut in her hands.

My mind went blank, "I, uh um, no…" I hadn't even realized I had a coconut with me until just then. "But I can go home and get one of you-"

"Jack, I was kidding. It was a joke," she said with a small smile just as the phone rang. I picked it up and looked at the called ID.

"It's him," I said with a grimace. "If you don't want to talk to that prick, I can not so kindly tell him to shove off." Anger was welling up in me because of this bastard. Who in their right mind would even think about cheating on my Kim? Just because I had been friendzoned didn't mean I didn't still care about Kim.

"No Jack, I need to end things with him," she said, taking the phone and pressing 'TALK'. "I'll call you later?"

"Oh, ok. Sure thing Kim," I said as I got up and walked toward the window. "Don't eat the coconut without me." I winked at her as I threw one leg over the edge of the window.

"Thanks Jack, for being here with me right now. It means a lot to me," she said, covering the mouthpiece. I just smiled and leaned to the tree and made my way down to the ground. All the way home I thought about how much I wanted to 'demonstrate' my karate skills all over Ryder's face the next time I saw him. It made me sick to think about how he could do something like that to Kim. He really hurt her, and I'd never forgive him for that.

* * *

**A/N: Okay so I hope you guys liked it, I had fun writing it (even if it was at three AM) Don't forget to review and tell me how you felt about it! I hope this was 'happy' enough for you guys that wanted happy! Thanks for reading and again, don't forget to leave me a review!**


	11. Reputation Ruined, Life Over

"Move," I said, motioning for the kids sitting at my lunch table to leave. How dare they sit at _my _table? Don't they know who I am? They scattered without a word so me, Grace, Kelly, and Donna could sit.

"Did you hear about Jennifer's scandal with the science teacher?" Grace asked as she set her tray down. I took off the lid of my 'Healthy Nut: Italian Salad' and rolled my eyes.

"Grace, I'm sure that's just a rumor," I sighed stabbing pieces of lettuce nonchalantly. "But LeeAnn is!" This earned gasps from the girls. A chorus of 'no way's and 'I don't believe it's rang through the table.

"Impossible! She's too much of a prude," scoffed Kelly.

"Exactly, she doesn't have the guts to get it on with such a sexy teacher," said Donna as she dabbed on some lip-gloss. I laughed and continued eating, as if forgetting about the whole topic.

"Well come on Kimmy, spill! How'd you hear?" Grace shrieked, at the end of her rope from the anxiousness. I calmly took a sip of my iced tea and blotted my lips with my napkin before I said anything. Kelly grabbed my arm and begged for me to continue.

"Okay I'll tell you," I said in mock annoyance. "So I heard Brody talking to Asher that he had heard Lucy tell Megan that she had seen LeeAnn being overly sexy in Parks' class. And then a few pictures made their way to my phone…" I stopped for them to get curious and anxious again.

"Well?" Donna said, annoyed that I was toying with them like I was.

"It showed…" I paused again, which was a cue for angry stares. "They showed both of them kissing behind the restricted section of the library and LeeAnn climbing into Mr. Parks' car."

More gasps. "How'd you get those pictures? Who sent them? How do you know they aren't photoshopped?" Kelly fired a string of questions at me when I finished.

"A blocked number sent them so I have no clue who it was, and I don't. I just think they make for juicy gossip," I said, flipping my hair over my shoulder. At that exact moment someone's tray made it's way over my head and all over my new outfit. I gasped at the food that had landed all over me and turned to see who had spilled their nasty cafeteria food on me. I saw a tallish boy with a thick mop of brown hair rush to clean me off.

"I'm so sorry!" he repeated over and over as he tried to clean me off with paper towels. I grabbed his hand and flung it away from me, as if it was poisoned.

"Don't touch me, karate freak," I hissed as I stood and brought my face up to his. "You'd better be sorry for this, my outfit costs more than your house." I spun on my heel and stalked out of the cafeteria, which had suddenly become very quiet, the only sound was the clicking of my heels on the linoleum floor. I made my way to the girl's bathroom and tried to clean myself up as much as possible before giving up and ditching the rest of school to go shopping for a whole new outfit to replace this one.

Karate Freak, A.K.A Jack Brewer was going to pay. He was one of the losers that sat in the corner of the cafeteria and was obsessed with karate. He and all of his gross friends went to the Bobby Wasabi Dojo, which was the worst dojo in all of Seaford. I knew all of this because I knew everything about everyone in the school. It was one of the perks of being popular.

I could ruin the little runt's whole high school experience with one text. I could make him regret ever running into Kim Crawford so easily that it was almost a joke. But I decided to hold off and wait to see what else turned up; I wanted to have something on him. Something that I could blackmail him and make him regret ever coming to Seaford High. I could wait, I was patient.

* * *

The next day, the AV Club was supposed to team up with our language arts class for a big project to send into the state, something about a movement to get kids to be more excited for school. The point is we all had to pair up and videotape ourselves being excited to do our work or something stupid like that. Take a wild guess at who I got paired with. That's right, Jack.

"…Kimberly Crawford will be paired with Jack Brewer," said the AV supervisor. I groaned as the words registered in my head. He made his way to my desk and took the seat next to me. He smiled as I glanced at him but I just scowled and turned away.

Of course I just had to be paired with Karate Freak. Was the universe trying to teach me a lesson by this? Because if it was, message received. I'd never plan to blackmail anyone for as long as I lived. But seriously, I would've even settled for any one of his grubby friends, just not him.

I turned back to him again, "Listen, Karate Freak, we're only going to talk about the project. No outside socializing, nobody outside of this class can know about the assignment. If you tell anybody, my whole reputation could be ruined. Got it?"

His smile diminished and he said, "I'd appreciate it if you'd call me by my real name, not some mean nickname you've come up with. My liking for karate has nothing to do with anything at this school. And I really am sorry for what happened yesterday at the cafeteria, I didn't mean for that to happen. It really was an accident." He brushed his hair away from his eyes only to have it fall back moments later.

I didn't say anything and turned to face the front again, not ready to forgive him for the food but willing to call him Jack. If I didn't respect him at all, how would I come to know all of his juicy secrets?

Jack's voice rang through my thoughts and jolted my back to reality, "So come by my house later so we can start the assignment." He scribbled his address in a notebook then ripped out the paper and placed it on my desk. "My cell is on there too, in case you need to call me or anything."

I folded up the paper and put it in my phone case, "Whatever. Nobody can know I'm going to your house. You can't tell anyone, not even your little friends," I said, keeping my voice at a whisper. He nodded and the bell rang moments later. I dashed out of the classroom and straight to lunch, I needed to tell Grace, Kelly, and Donna about this.

* * *

I pulled up to the address Jack had given me and braced myself for the moments to come. I rang the doorbell and a youngish woman came to the door.

She smiled then yelled up the stairs, "Jack! A girl is here for you!" I heard a door opening and closing and feet on wooden floor. "Come on in sweetie, what's your name?"

"I'm Kim," I said as I smiled and shook her hand. "Jack and I were assigned to do a project together." Just then, Jack came bounding down the stairs, pulling a shirt over his head and yelling his hello.

"Come on Kim, let's just go upstairs," he said quickly as he grabbed my arm and tore me from his mother, almost as if he didn't want me near her. He dragged me up the stairs and to his room where I plopped down on his desk chair. We sat in silence for a few minutes, unsure of what to say. He just stared at me, daring me to make the first move. Finally, I broke the silence.

"So. What are we going to do?" I asked. I was bored with sitting there and I hadn't come all that way just to be stared at by some karate freak.

"I was thinking I would videotape you doing your homework, answering questions in class, and just being optimistic about school. Then I could edit it and turn it into a kind of short film about how even the populars can be excited for school," he said quietly, still staring at me intently. I stared back. I was surprised though; it was a pretty good idea.

"That's fine with me," I said nonchalantly. I didn't want him to see my emotions, so I kept my cool and acted uninterested. "So basically you're going to follow me around for a few weeks ad videotaping everything academic I do?"

"Basically, yeah. We'd have to get together before, during, and after school. I get a feeling we're going to get to know each other pretty well," he said, emphasizing the last sentence.

"Yeah I guess so," I said, unenthusiastically. "So when do we start?"

"Now I guess. Do you have your homework?" he asked. I nodded and rummaged through my bag, looking for my math binder and a pencil. At last I pulled out the binder containing my homework, but I couldn't find a pencil.

"Got a pencil I can borrow?" I asked, looking around his desk for the writing utensil. He nodded and motioned to the left-hand drawer on the top of his desk, without looking up from his camera. I opened the drawer and saw a picture of a smaller version of Jack and a man in an army uniform looking quite happy together. I pulled it out and showed it to Jack, "Who's this?"

His eyes widened, "Uh, nobody!" He scrambled to the desk and snatched the frame out of my hand and shoved it underneath his pillow. I shrugged and chose a pencil. I turned to my homework, a concept that nobody in my class understood except for Milton and me. I was pretty smart, despite my social status. I strained my eyes to focus but after a while, a massive headache took over my brain and I couldn't think anymore.

"Can we take five? I have a huge headache," I asked suddenly, pushing the chair away from the desk and rubbing my eyes. Jack looked at me quizzically but agreed. He studied me for a while, focusing on my eyes mostly and suddenly broke the silence.

"Wait Kim, do you wear glasses?" he asked, making me flinch at the sudden noise.

"N-no," I stuttered. The truth was, I did have glasses. Thick lenses, thick rims, thick in uncooless. Jack obviously saw right through my lie because he asked again, this time, more seriously. This time, I answered with the truth.

"Yes…" I sighed.

"So put them on!" Jack said as if it was the obvious choice for me. When I shook my head, he got frustrated. "Kim! Just put on your glasses! All you're doing by not wearing them is ruining your eyesight even more!" He bellowed.

"And do you know what would happen if I put them on? People talk Jack," I hissed. "I've worked too hard to get to where I am, I'm not going to ruin it by putting on a pair of dumb, nerdy glasses!"

"Please, just put them on," he said with a sigh. I gave in, if only to get him to shut up. I pulled them out with a huff and pushed them onto my nose. "Not so bad, was it?" he asked, grabbing his camera once more. "Besides, you look prettier with glasses."

"Whatever," I mumbled as I turned away from him and got back to work.

The next few weeks were spent like this. He'd videotape me almost 24/7, we'd find something to bicker about but we'd generally get along. He got me to start wearing my glasses full-time, my friends questioned it but never really said anything offensive. At least, not to my face.

Oddly enough, I started to forget about my need for revenge and I actually started to like Jack. I'd invite him to sit with the girls and me at lunch, something they didn't approve of but lived with for my sake. We actually started becoming… friends.

"Hey Jack, don't you ever wonder what you'd look like if you got a new look?" I asked one day as we sat in my room. I examined my Bubblegum Pop nail polish as I waited for his reply.

"Um, not really," he said cautiously. "I think I'll pass on that one." I struggled to hold in a laugh as I assessed his outfit. He wore a Bobby Wasabi vs. Piranhapus tee shirt, old looking jeans, and dirty tennis shoes. His hair had no style whatsoever and I was beginning to wonder when the last time was that he got it cut.

"Come on," I said, grabbing his arm and my keys and pulling him out the door to my car. I pushed him into the passenger seat and drove off before he had a chance to protest.

"What the hell? Where are we going?" he yelled, annoyed at the sudden roughness and lack of information.

"The mall, duh," I rolled my eyes. He gave me a confused look. "You're getting a makeover Brewer, whether you like it or not."

We pulled up to the mall and zipped from store to store, trying to find the right style for Jack. I took him to my favorite salon and gave him a much-needed haircut and his makeover was complete.

I led him to a full-body mirror at the back of the salon, eyes covered for the perfect effect. "Ta-dah!" I pulled my hands from his eyes and stepped back, admiring my work.

He now donned a deep purple v-neck with a thick dark blue stripe across his chest, dark-wash skinny jeans, and black high-tops. His hair fell perfectly around his face and he looked very stylish, skater-chic.

"So? What do you think? Am I good or am I good?" I asked with a huge grin as he gawked at himself in the mirror.

"You're… good!" he exclaimed. "I look totally different. I look… cool."

"That's the point! You look great," I said as we walked back to my car. "Now it's your turn to be in the spotlight. When we get home, I'm going to record you for the short film. It's not fair that I'm the only one in the video!"

"I-I don't know about you touching the camera… It's expensive and very-" he said quietly.

"Oh hush!" I said, cutting him off. I laughed and sped toward my house. When we arrived, we laughed and goofed around in front of the camera for a while. I genuinely had fun.

* * *

At school I was noticing that he became more and more popular. He started hanging out with Brody, Asher, and the rest of their group. We stayed friends but I hardly saw him now, aside from the few hours a week we had now to edit the film. I started to miss him.

"Kim! Our project was chosen! It's the one they're sending in to the state!" Jack said one day as he bounded out of the AV room. He pulled me into a hug and we stayed like that for a few seconds, I breathed in his scent of vanilla and lavender. When we pulled away, we stared into each other's eyes for a moment. The special moment was ruined when a mob of boys rushed past us.

"Jack, we'll meet you in the cafeteria," said Brody as he clapped his hand on Jack's shoulder. His gaze immediately shifted to Brody and he nodded. He turned back to me and gave me a weak smile.

"Well, they guys are waiting for me. See ya," he said and he turned and walked away. I stood there and watched him leave, sending a wave he never saw.

The next day I found a paper stuck to my locker. It was a picture of me, glasses on. On the bottom it read,

_So little Kimmy wears glasses, I wonder what else she hid from us for so long?_

I crumpled it up and threw it away, glancing around me to see if I could find the culprit. Nobody looked suspicious and nobody looked my way.

More and more pictured started popping up everywhere. In my books, my locker, taped to my bag, everywhere. They eventually made their way into other people's lockers and they laughed at me.

I didn't understand why suddenly my wearing glasses was so funny. I had worn them for a while now and nobody had said anything until these pictures started turning up.

People were starting to talk and rumors arose.

"_I heard Kim Crawford had an affair with the gym teacher."_

"_Kim Crawford had sex with the custodian."_

"_Someone has a picture of Kim Crawford at the doctor's office getting an abortion."_

"_Kim Crawford's coming. Stay away from her, you could get STDs from just looking at her." _

Grace, Kelly, and Donna stopped talking to me, believing every rumor they heard. Asher and Brody started avoiding me and Jack wouldn't even talk to me. Said he couldn't be seen with me, think about his reputation.

I broke down one day when he walked past me and he pulled me into the courtyard.

"Kim, let me tell you a secret," he said quietly. "I spread those rumors."

I looked up, mouth agape, not believing what he had just told me. Had it really been Jack all along?

"Yeah. And I used you to get popular too. That day I spilled food on you? It wasn't an accident. I played you Kim," he hissed, venom dripping from his words. "I got closer to you, knowing you'd want to change me being the shallow girl that you are. I became your friend and when people saw me hanging out with you, they thought they'd give me a chance. I suddenly became the new heartthrob of the school, no longer the Karate Freak. So thanks, I'm done with you now," he said with a smirk. I just looked at him, silent tears falling and brain frazzled, trying to take it all in.

And so he left me. Sitting on the bench, looking like an idiot. Reputation ruined, life over.

* * *

**A/N: I hope y'all liked this one, it took forever to write and I made it extra long just for you! In case you didn't notice, this is AU, just letting you know. I have another one on the way that I've been trying to write for like a week now but the words just aren't flowing, but I swear it'll be up sometime this week :)  
****Thanks for reading!**


	12. Two Weeks

"Him," she said. I followed the daintily pointed finger of my best friend Grace across the cafeteria. She was pointing to…

"Jack? No way!" I shrieked, yanking her arm down so he didn't see her pointing so obviously.

"Why not? He's totally hot and I know he'd definitely fall for it," Grace said nonchalantly examining her bright pink nail polish. "Or more importantly, you." I glanced back at Jack, taking in the dare.

"No! He's my best friend, I'm not doing that to him," I said, crossing my arms and giving her my best 'I'm not doing that' look. She just smiled and looked at me.

"I dared you to, so now you have to do it Kimmy," she whispered just as the bell rang, signaling that lunch was over. I rolled my eyes and gathered my things, dumping my tray in the garbage on my way out.

Grace just giggled and followed me repeating over and over, "Two weeks Kimmy, two weeks!"

_Two weeks to make Jack fall in love with me? And she expects me to reject him if he does? How am I supposed to do that?_

I shook my head and kept walking. Or at least, I tried to. I felt myself collide with someone and as I looked up I realized it was Jack, and I blushed madly as he smiled and winked at me.

"Sorry Kim, but be more careful next time. It won't always be your amazingly handsome and smart best friend you smack into," he said with a grin. I rolled my eyes and smirked.

"And what would someone do if I just happen to punch my amazingly handsome and smart best friend really hard right now?" I said sweetly, instantly forgetting about my dare with Grace. He put his hands up and backed away in mock fear and I laughed.

"See you at the dojo, Kimmy," he said, turning to the opposite side of the hallway. He hopped out of my reach just in time as I lunged toward him.

"JACK!" I yelled after him, still smiling but furious at the nickname he used. I watched him pick up speed and sprint down the hall, perfectly aware of what I was capable of doing to him. I smirked and made my way to Algebra, the dare suddenly popping into my head again.

How would I do it without messing everything up?

* * *

"Hey Kim," Jack said with a slight wave as I walked into the dojo. I smiled and greeted everyone as I crossed the space to the girls' locker room.

I was changing into my usual karate practice uniform: shorts, a sports bra and a Bobby Wasabi tee shirt when I heard the door open and a voice echo off the walls of the room, "Hey Kim, I need to ask you something. I-" I screamed and crossed my arms over my chest as Jack's eyes widened at my almost bare body. He covered his eyes, cheeks turning red, and retreated, yelling an apology over and over again.

I just stood there, heart pounding and cheeks burning. Jack had basically seen me naked just then. It didn't register as I finished changing; heart still racing and I jogged out to my locker and put my things in. I noticed eyes following me as I went over to the mats and started stretching, more specifically five pairs of male eyes.

"Um, what?" I asked, very embarrassed at this point. It was Jack who spoke first, the other guys still trying to wrap their minds around what had just occurred and more than one probably picturing me as Jack had seen me.

"Uh, I'm uh, really sorry about that. I uh, thought you were already changed…" he said, rubbing the back of his neck as he blushed again, stumbling over his words. I decided to take this as an opportunity to make Jack fall for me and I stood up and closed the distance between our bodies.

"Did you like what you saw?" I whispered, pushing myself close to him and trying to keep myself from turning beet red and backing out. Jack just stood there, trying to understand what was happening, as I pressed further. "Because, if you want, I could maybe show you again," I said, placing my leg between his and noticing him swallow rather loudly.

"Uh, Kim? What are you implying?" he said, backing away and looking anywhere but me.

"Nothing Jackie, just messing with you!" I said as sweetly and innocently as I could. Then I turned away and continued stretching, leaving him and the rest of the dojo speechless. I inwardly hated myself for doing that but if I was going to fulfill the dare, I had to take every opportunity I could to get Jack's heart racing and blood flowing.

The rest of practice went by fairly quickly, although I noticed I was getting odd glances from everyone in the dojo. I brushed it off and pretended I didn't notice and went through the drills, pretending nothing was wrong.

"Hey Jack, want to grab a bite before heading home?" I asked as we walked to out lockers and took our bags out. I bit my lip as I waited for a response, hoping he'd say yes.

"Sorry Kim, I uh, have something to do," he said, quickly slamming his locker shut and fast-walking out of the dojo without so much as saying goodbye. I instantly realized I was taking the wrong approach; I needed to be more myself, more subtle.

"What's up with him?" I asked innocently as I closed my locker and flounced out of the dojo before anybody could say anything.

* * *

**A/N: Ok so here's part one of this new story! I might make this one a two or three parter, depending on how much I get done without making the chapter seem to heavy. This is for everyone who asked me why I always make Jack the bad guy, Kim's eventually going to be the bad guy (girl?) here so stay posted! And as to the reason why I usually make Jack the meanie is that as a girl it just seems easier to imagine the emotions behind the guy breaking the girl's heart, but if I want to get any better at writing I have to do things I'm not very good at, am I right? Well this might be the longest author's notes I've ever written, so I'm going to end it soon. ;) Sorry for such a short chapter, I just really wanted to get something out to show you that I haven't been buried alive or pushed off a cliff ;) Thanks for reading and please don't forget to review!  
P.S. In response to lots of reviews I've gotten about my last chapter being very similar to Disney's _Geek Charming_, I've never actually seen the movie!  
P.P.S. OVER A HUNDRED REVIEWS? I LOVE YOU ALL SO MUCH RIGHT NOW I COULD CRY. TT~TT Thank you so much everyone [insert a million hearts here]**


	13. Two Weeks Part 2

"Hey Jack, sorry about yesterday," I said, catching up with him as he walked toward the dojo for practice the next day. "I don't know what came over me!"

He smiled and shook his head, "No, I should be the one apologizing… I walked in on you while you were changing. That's worse than being seductive." I raised my eyebrows at him, not expecting that last comment.

"Oh so you thought I was seductive?" I said with a grin. He gulped and tried his best to mask how uncomfortable he was feeling. I laughed and punched his arm gently, "Lighten up will ya? You're bringing down my mood with all your awkwardness!"

"S-sorry," Jack said awkwardly as he pushed open the door to the dojo and walked in.

"After practice come get a pizza with me? And please don't say no," I pleaded as he opened his locker and shoved his bag inside. I needed to do as many things with him as possible if I wanted him to fall in love with me by next week. I gave him my best puppy-dog face and he seemed to soften a bit.

"Sure, why not Kim," he said with a smile as I turned to the locker rooms.

"And knock next time!" I said over my shoulder as I pushed the door open and disappeared inside. I heard the guys snickering and Jack trying to get them to stop. I chuckled and thought about the pizza we were going to share and whether or not I could actually succeed in the dare. I shrugged it off and finished getting ready and practice flew by, and in no time it was time to go.

Neither of us had bothered changing back into regular clothes, what was the point?

"Bye everyone," Jack said as we exited the dojo, on our way to Paul's Pies for dinner as I had asked. Everyone called his goodbyes and we left, walking slowly in a comfortable silence like we always did.

"So, Kim. Did I ever tell you about the time when I got stuck in a tree?" Jack asked suddenly, breaking the silence. I snorted without even knowing it and laughed.

"No way! You? Stuck in a tree?" I said as I giggled, imagining Jack helpless in a tree. How he got there was beyond me and I urged him to tell me.

"So I was nine, just for the record," he said, glancing at me as I continued to laugh. I quickly silenced myself to a quiet giggle and he continued. "I was in Central Park one day and I saw a kite stuck in a tree. It looked really cool and I wanted it, I had never flown a kite before. I scaled the tree and I noticed I had miscalculated how high the kite really was. I kept climbing though and when I reached the kite, I saw that it was ripped and broken. I tried to climb back down but I couldn't see any branches that could support my weight from up there. So I had a broken kite and I was stuck in a tree."

"Wait, wait, wait. How did you get up there if no branched could support a nine year old kid? Obviously there were branches underneath you that you could've used to get down!" I said as if it was the most obvious thing in the world, and it was, just not to the nine-year-old Jack.

"There were, I was just too busy panicking to see them," he said sheepishly. "But wait, here comes the best part. After like an hour of being up there I thought nobody would ever come for me and I started to cry. Like I wasn't sniffling or anything I was all out bawling, tears everywhere, boogers pouring out from my nose, the whole shebang," I crinkled my nose at the description though it wasn't hard to picture.

"So how'd you get down?" I asked after I had composed myself.

"Um, after my mom got worried that I hadn't come home for so long, she eventually found me and had to call the fire department to get me down. They had to use their huge ladder and carry me down because I was crying too much to climb down myself," he said sheepishly, rubbing the back of his neck as he spoke. I burst out laughing so hard it brought tears to my eyes. "Yeah, yeah, yeah. Laugh it up. Just wait until you get stuck up a huge tree and we'll see who's laughing."

We had reached the pizza parlor and ordered a large cheese pizza, half pepperoni half mushrooms like we always did. We talked and laughed and made our neighbors leave early from our shenanigans, we were having a great time. I had once again forgotten about the dare Grace proposed so I was myself, no hidden motives, no creepy-seductive Kim.

After we ate, we got some ice cream at the place across from the pizza parlor.

"I'd like a vanilla cone please," I said with a smile as the man behind the counter took my order. I saw Jack crinkle his nose before he ordered his chocolate cone. "What? You got a problem with the kind of ice cream I like?" I asked defensively.

"Actually I do, _Vanilla Girl_," he said, narrowing his eyes as he paid for the ice cream. "How can you like vanilla, of all flavors? It's such a boring ice cream! Even the color is boring, _white_."

"Well, _Chocolate Boy_, I happen to think vanilla is the best flavor of ice cream in the entire world. Much better than ugly, brown, chocolate," I spat. I had hated chocolate ever since I was a little girl growing up in Tennessee. All my friends thought I was crazy, but I stood my ground and I've never liked it.

Jack put his hands up in surrender, "Whatever, I still think chocolate is way better than vanilla."

"And I think vanilla is way better than chocolate, so we're even," I said as we walked out into the street, getting ready to go home, each licking our respective mound of ice cream.

"Thanks for coming with me for dinner, Jack," I said before crunching on my waffle cone.

"No problem Kim, I like doing stuff like this with you," he said quietly. His hand that was by his side made a quick movement, like he was about to try and hold my hand. I smiled and left my hand where it was, waiting for his warm hand to slip into mine, but it never did. I eventually gave up and stuck it in my pocket.

That whole week was a blur of semi-dates and determination. As I became more and more desperate to make Jack fall for me, I took every opportunity I could to get him alone. I would invite Jack to go out to dinner after practice every day and he gladly agreed. Once we ran out of places to go, which didn't take very long, I started inviting him to my place to eat. When I wasn't flirting my butt off I was scrambling to be Jack's partner in class. And when I wasn't doing that, I was securing the spot next to him at lunch or walking with him to class. It was pretty exhausting and I was eager for the end of the two weeks to come.

"Kim, what's up with you lately? You haven't left my side all week," said Jack on the second week of the dare. I had realized that I hadn't been making much progress and I kicked it up a notch and practically glued myself to him.

"Who, me? There's nothing wrong with me! I'm perfectly fine," I answered a bit too quickly. I mentally kicked myself for not being able to be subtler. Jack didn't seem too convinced anyways.

"No, there's definitely something wrong," he said. He placed his hand on my forehead and felt for a fever, only to find none. "So you're not sick… So what is it? Are you tired? Do you want something? Because I can take you to the nurse's office and you could lay down for a bit," he said, concern filling his eyes and he placed his hand on my back and steered me in the direction of the nurse's office.

"No, I'm fine. Really," I said with a smile. He was too sweet. "Just, please, don't leave me."

He gave me a funny look but nodded and slipped his hand into mine as we walked to our next class. My heart literally skipped a beat when he took my hand, I was finally getting somewhere!

"Thanks Jack," I whispered, barely audible. He heard me though, and nodded, cheeks turning red. He kept walking but didn't let go of my hand the whole way.

Maybe I _could _get Jack to fall in love with me by the end of the week…

* * *

**A/N: Hey everyone! I hope you liked part two of Two Weeks! This is my birthday present to you (wait, shouldn't it be the other way around?) since it's my birthday tomorrow (the 29th)! Please don't forget to review and maybe as a birthday gift (to me this time!) you could give 15? I know I don't usually ask for a set number of reviews since I'm perfectly okay with whatever number you guys want to leave but please? This is the only time I'll ask okay? Thank you ;* Part three may be up by the end of the week, but I'm not sure, just stay posted and stay beautiful!**


	14. Two Weeks Part 3

As I walked up the steps to Seaford High, I saw Kim waiting by the trophy display, waiting for me no doubt. I ducked behind some band kids before she could see me; it was too early to deal with her teasing.

See, earlier in the week, I noticed that Kim had been acting strange. Not 'I left my book here and now it's gone' strange, no. More like 'I'm growing three extra heads and a tail' strange. At first, I thought she was just sick, that she wanted my company. So naturally, I rolled with it. But then she started getting all flirtatious and clingy, so I knew something was up. I knew this wasn't the usual Kim, so I decided to do some "research" and figure out exactly what was going on.

As I walked past the girl's bathroom, I heard a familiar voice coming from behind the door, "So I finally made some progress! He held my hand! I'll definitely have him fall before the end of this week."

My eyes widened, what was she talking about? Was I some sort of prize? What was supposed to be happening by the end of the week? I racked my brains to see if I could think of anything Kim could've said to clue me in, but when nothing surfaced, I asked Jerry to do some snooping.

After second period, my Latino friend ran up to me and began talking in hyper speed, "So I found out that Grace dared Kim to get you to fall in love with her within two weeks. That's why she's been so clingy and creepy lately!" After I asked him to slow down and repeat it, I finally understood.

"So she doesn't like me? At all?" I asked slowly as I tried to wrap my head around the situation.

Jerry shook is head and put his hand on my shoulder, "Sorry Jack. She's only proving a point to Grace."

Now that hurt. Not only was it painful to hear, but also I thought the dare was just about the dumbest thing I had ever heard. What was she, crazy? That or she was clueless. I had subtly been dropping hints ever since I figured out that I liked Kim but to no avail. Either she noticed and refused to accept my feelings, or she didn't even realize what I had been doing. I eventually gave up and I had been waiting patiently for the day when she reciprocated my feelings.

"But for her to pick me of all the guys in Seaford says that she at least _kind of _likes me… Right?" I asked, the sudden idea giving me hope. Jerry just gave me a look and shrugged his shoulders. I decided right then and there that I was going to take this as an opportunity to ask Kim to be my girlfriend.

"I'm going to ask her out," I said abruptly. Jerry's eyed widened and he almost fell over.

"You're going to do what now?" he screamed at me. I repeated my statement and she shook his head quickly. "¿Que estas pensando?¿No acabas de oír lo que dije? Kim está sólo probando un punto, ella probablemente no te quiere de esa manera!" he said in a fast string of fluent Spanish.

"Jerry! What did you even say?" I asked exasperatedly. I never understood him when he went on a Spanish rampage, seeing as I never really learned anything from the years of Spanish classes I had forced to take.

"I _said, _what are you thinking man? I just finished saying that she's only proving a point to Grace. She probably won't say yes," he said with a sigh. I just looked at him for a moment, he was my best guy friend and I wanted to believe what he said and not break apart, but I just couldn't. He obviously understood that because then he said, "Just don't get hurt man."

"Thanks Jer, I won't," I said as he clapped me on the back. I went straight to History after that, and I just completely zoned out.

I was usually a good student in that class and I took notes as well as the next guy, but today my mind was somewhere else. I was thinking of all the possible ways to ask out a girl, of all the possible things that could happen. Different scenarios played out in my head and I heard nothing that was going on in class. Occasionally the teacher would call me out and I'd blurt any answer, usually a wrong one, but then I'd be able to return to my dreamlike state for a few more minutes without being disturbed.

After spending most of the day in a daze, head spinning and stomach churning at the thought of asking Kim out after school, I finally made it out of class with what little sanity I had left and set out to find Kim. It was only a matter of seconds before I spotted an all-too-familiar blonde head bobbing in the crowd of teenagers that is Seaford High School.

"Kim!" I called out, trying to get her attention. I saw her look around, trying to find where my voice was coming from. "Kim! Over here!"

She finally saw where I was and picked her way through the throng of people and took up the space next to me.

"So what's up Jack?" she asked with a smile. We strolled down the hallway as soon as everyone had cleared out. Well, almost everyone. There were still small clumps of people here and there, mostly the kids that were waiting for their after school activities to begin. I led Kim to the photography garden, a space only used my the photography club about two times a year that I went to whenever I needed somewhere to think at school.

I swallowed nervously and said, "I have something to tell you, it's kind of important." We stopped right next to a rose bush, Kim's favorite flower, and sat down on the grass.

"So, Kim, you know you're my best friend. Right?" I asked shakily, not really knowing where this was going. She nodded slowly. "Well, I like you. A lot," I said quickly.

"As more than a friend. So much, that it scares me sometimes how much I like you. Ever since that day with the apple, I've been falling for you. Hard," I stopped for a moment so she could take it in, but not enough for her to say anything. "I'm not really sure how I'm supposed to ask, since I've never done it before, but I'll just go right out and say it. Kim, will you please be my girlfriend?" I finished at that point and waited silently for a response, heart pounding and fear creeping into my mind of a rejection.

"No."

I let out a huge breath that I didn't even know I was holding, "That's great! I knew you felt the same way-" I stopped talking when I noticed what she had actually said. "Wait, no?"

"No," she repeated with a blank expression. "I won't be your girlfriend Jack."

I looked at her for a moment before asking something that nobody should ever ask when being rejected, "Why not?"

"Because even if you like me, that doesn't mean that I like you," she said rather harshly. But I could detect something in her voice; something suggesting that she didn't like what she was saying. "I've never liked you that way Jack, and I never will. The only reason that I've been acting the way I have is because Grace dared me to and I completed it. I have to go."

Ouch. What bothered me the most was how she could say that she never had feelings for me at all so easily. The fact that she could break my heart without thinking twice said something about her, although I could never hold it against her.

"Well if that's how you feel," I said quietly. I couldn't manage to say anything other than that. My heart was breaking and I couldn't do anything to fix it.

"It is," she said flatly. I watched her as she got up and walked away, not looking back at me once. I winced as the door slammed behind her, something that always happened with that particular door, but I just seemed to fit so perfectly. I hadn't expected it to go down that way; the few rejections I had imagined all day were nothing like what had just happened. I hadn't expected a 'no' to hurt so badly. I hadn't expected it to leave me so broken.

I just sat there, shattered. She had played me, and I knowingly walked right into her trap. She lured me in with giggles and false feelings, and then as I got caught in her snare, she broke me.

And it hadn't even been a full two weeks.

* * *

**A/N: I hope you guys liked the conclusion to Two Weeks! So I had fun writing Kim to be the "bad girl" so I might do it more often, if I can come up with good story lines of course. If you guys have anything you want to see, PM me or leave it in a review and I'll think about it! Thanks for reading and please don't forget to leave me a review, I'm trying to respond to all of them! **


	15. Sanctuary

Muffled yelling and screaming. Crashing coming from downstairs almost all the time. Picking up broken pieces of anything right after. Tears most of the day. Pretending that I didn't hear anything even though I could hear it perfectly. That was my life, and I couldn't do anything about it.

Recently, my parents started fighting. We were barely getting by moneywise and my dad was spending less and less time at the house, and when he was home, he spent all of his time and energy yelling at my mom.

Most of their fights went something like this:

My mom would yell something like, "Where have you been Anthony? Do you know what time it is?" Then the door would slam as my dad entered the house.

He would say something in a drunken slur like, "Ashley, I know what time it is…" My mom hated it when my dad comes home drunk and we all knew it. I would wince when the sound of a slap traveled up the stairs and to my ears. I would pray that it didn't get violent, but then again, God never listened to me when I prayed.

My dad would roar from the slap and yell something about how he spent all day working to provide for his goddamn wife and good-for-nothing daughter.

Ouch. But I would've already been used to it, so I could push it out of my mind and say that he was only saying that because he was drunk. Sure.

My mother's voice would reach a shriek when she would say something like, "Anthony! How dare you say that! All you do every day is get drunk! This is why we don't have any money!" Then my dad would yell at her and say that maybe we'd have money if their daughter didn't spend so much time with sweaty boys at such a useless place as a judo dojo.

"Karate dad…" I would whisper, correcting him from the safety of my room. And lately I would take karate that much more seriously because of the looming threat of my father turning on _me_.

Some shuffling and screaming and crashing would then suggest that there was a struggle that it was indeed getting violent. Something made of glass would shatter against a wall, just barely missing somebody's head, most likely my father's. I knew that because my dad could easily overwhelm my mom with his fists, as if it were too easy.

This is usually the part when I stop listening, I didn't want to be responsible for not stopping the fight that was happening right downstairs. I'd either put in my earbuds and blast music or I would jump out my window and climb down the tree that grew beside my house and go somewhere, anywhere, else.

* * *

"Kim, honey, come downstairs for a moment?" came my mom's voice from the bottom of the staircase. I picked myself off of the floor and stomped downstairs, not expecting anything good. When I reached the bottom, I saw my mom and dad sitting civilly on the sofa. My eyes grew wide and I raised my eyebrows, this couldn't be good.

My dad motioned for me to sit in the chair facing the sofa, and I gingerly sat on the edge of the seat, making sure that I could escape quickly and get out the door if the need arose.

"Honey, your father and I love you very much," my mom began, giving me the fakest smile I had ever seen. I swallowed nervously, half-knowing where this conversation was going.

"And as you may have noticed, your mother and I haven't been on the best terms lately," my dad continued, confirming my suspicions. "And we've decided that it's best for us to split up, that is, we're getting a divorce."

"Even though we're splitting up, your father and I still love you so very much, and that's not going to change hun," my mom said, reaching over the coffee table as if to squeeze my hand, but I pulled it away before she could reach it.

I had been expecting this for a while, but I never thought it would actually happen. I thought that they'd just kiss and make up, that we'd still be a happy family after it all.

"No, don't even try to pull that one on me. Don't," I said, my voice barely above a whisper. "If that was really true, you wouldn't be getting a divorce. If that were really true, you never would've started fighting. Did you even think this through?" I felt tears coming on, but I would not cry in front of my father.

"This is all your fault!" I shrieked at the man I used to call my father, he would never be considered my dad again. I got up and ran out the door into the darkness of the night. Tears began falling and I ran blindly down streets and found myself at a very familiar house. I noticed where I was, and knocked desperately on the door.

When the door opened and revealed a certain brown-haired black belt, I rushed into his body and cried into his chest.

"Kim! Kim, what's going on?" he asked, genuinely concerned for me. When all I did was sob, he wrapped his strong arms around me and my arms snaked around his slim waist. We stood in his doorway like that for a long while, until he felt like I could talk to him.

He placed his hand under my chin and lifted my face so that I gazed at him, tears still flowing freely down my cheeks and asked, "Kim, please, what happened?"

I buried my face in his shirt again and mumbled against his chest, "My parents are getting a divorce." I stood there until he nodded and shut the door. He pulled me away from him and grabbed my hand, leading me toward the sofa. He sat me down and went into the kitchen, asking over his shoulder if I wanted hot chocolate or tea. Two minutes later, he reappeared with two mugs full of piping hot water and a bag of chamomile tea dangling over the edge.

"Tell me exactly what happened," he said quietly as he put his arm around me and pulled me close. I took a deep breath and inhaled the scent of vanilla, mint, and chamomile that was coming from his body.

"S-so my parents have been fighting l-lately, about everything," I said, my heart slowing back to its regular pace. "And m-my dad says I'm a 'good-for-nothing daughter' a-and that I s-spend too much time with 'sweaty boys' and b-basically I'm a horrible daughter. H-he hits my mom and he's always d-drunk now."

Jack just sat there and waited patiently for me to tell him the rest of the story and I took a deep breath and continued, "And today, th-they were sitting _together _and they t-told me that they still loved me! If they r-really love me, they wouldn't fight!" I stopped again, dangerously close to tears again.

"It's okay to cry Kim, I'm not going anywhere," Jack said gently and I let the tears roll again. Jack took the mug from my hand and set both of them down on the table, then he pulled me onto his lap and I cried on his shoulder for I don't know how long. He rubbed my back until I settled down again and I was amazed at how he could calm me down without saying anything.

"Then my dad says that they're getting a d-divorce. Mom says nothing's going to change, how c-can she say that? Everything's g-going to change!" I stopped then, and let Jack soak it all in. He took a deep breath and looked at me with sad eyes.

"Kim, it's okay. Trust me, your parents really do love you, even if they don't love each other," he said as he rubbed my back. "Things _will_ change, but they won't all be bad changes. Think about it, do you want your parents to stay together and fight all the time? Or would you rather have them split up and be happy?"

"Can't they be happy together?" I asked quietly. Jack shook his head.

"It was all good while it lasted, but people change. That's natural for people, it always happens, even if it's not what we want. You'll still see both of your parents, just not at the same time, but they'll be happier and more like they were before they started fighting. You'll see, it's going to be okay," he said with a small smile. I gave him a watery smile in return and a kiss on the cheek.

"Thanks Jack, you made me feel a lot better," I said, still smiling. I giggled as he turned beet red and frazzled. "Would you mind if I stayed here tonight though? I don't want to go home yet."

"Sure," Jack said quickly. "My mom's in San Francisco on business so nobody's here anyway. And I don't mind." I smiled and moved to sit beside him, but kept his arm around me. He was my sanctuary; he would keep me safe and would keep my mind off of the drama unfolding at home, even if it were only for one night.

* * *

**A/N: I hope you liked this chapter everyone! Well, sawesome1 has been asking for a 'happier' chapter, so I hope this met your happiness needs! Happy Chinese New Year guys, year of the snake! Please don't forget to review! Thank you for reading and stay awesome!**


	16. I Promise You

"Hey Jack, mind telling me why you're kidnapping me?" Kim asked with a slight smile as I walked hand-in-hand with her across town. I only grinned and kept walking, which only got her annoyed. She stopped abruptly and crossed he arms, "Jack, where are we going?"

"You'll figure it out in about five minutes," I said as I scooped up her small hand in my larger one and pulled her lightly along. She huffed but I was glad that she didn't turn around and leave right then. See, Kim and I had been dating ever since freshman year and since we were about to graduate from Seaford High School, I decided I needed to do a little something to keep us together.

I was heels-over-head in love with her and I was almost sure she felt the same way about me, but since we were going to different colleges I wasn't sure how we'd last as long as we said we would. My free hand dropped to my pocket and I fiddled around with a ring that was safely buried in there.

No, I was not about to propose to Kim, that's a bit _too_ drastic. What I had was a promise ring, the kind you give someone that you love to ensure that you'll have a future together. Basically it was an early proposal but with a little bit less commitment, although I was essentially promising her my whole life with that silver band.

We came up to the park and we picked our way through the overgrown paths in the back until we made it to a lake that we enjoyed spending time at. Kim dropped my hand and asked again why we were there. In answer, I dropped down on one knee and pulled out the silver band with our initials engraved on the inside.

"Jack, what are you doing?" she asked as her eyes widened.

"Kim, don't freak. Just hear me out," I said quickly. She looked a bit pale as she nodded and stayed put.

"Kim, we've been a couple since freshman year and I don't think I've ever felt this strongly about anyone before. I'd gladly spend the rest of my life with you and I'd never love you any less. I want to get married and be able to hear little feet running around the house and know that they're all ours. I want to be able to grow old and die with you," I said to her, not breaking eye contact but not noticing her eyes get slightly teary. "With this ring, I'm promising you my whole life, my future. Can you promise me that too?"

She shook her head slightly, I wasn't even sure that she had refused until she spoke, "I, Jack, I can't. I'm not ready for commitment like this, even if it's not an actual proposal. Don't get me wrong, these last four years have been amazing with you and I love you more that you know, but I can't accept the ring." She backed away and sat on a boulder facing away from me.

"You won't even consider it, not in the future?" I asked quietly as I dropped completely to the floor. I saw her shake her head again and I let the ring fall to the ground. Let it stay there or let someone find it, it didn't matter to me. Kim wouldn't take it and although she had a right to her space, I didn't want it around anywhere to remind me about this day.

"Take me home please," her voice came from where she sat, barely audible. I stood and walked over to where she was and attempted to hold her hand, but she pulled it away before I could even reach it. I sighed inwardly and led her all the way home in the heaviest silence you could ever imagine.

When we reached her house she went straight in, not even looking at me or saying goodbye, which hurt a lot. Just because she had rejected the promise ring didn't mean we were over, right?

A few minutes later I found myself back at the lake, scanning the ground for the silver ring that lay somewhere beneath a patch of grass. When I found it I took a few short steps to the shore of the lake, and I chucked it as far as I could. I watched emotionlessly as the sun caught on the metal creating a glare that soared through the air and disappeared beneath the water almost without a sound. I sunk to the ground again, although this time I landed in the water. Not that I really cared, Kim had refused to even consider our future together so I had basically given up.

And so I spent the rest of the day there, sitting in the clear, cold water of that deserted lake, thinking about everything and nothing all at once. Chilled to the bone but surprisingly warm. I sat there, letting my emotions slip into the lake and float away. Because that way I wouldn't have to feel my broken heart shatter more every time I saw Kim. Because that way I would never have to feel this way ever again. But mostly because I knew there was nothing I could do to change what had just happened, no matter how much I wanted to.

* * *

**A/N: Salutations! Just a sort of Valentine's Day chapter, I hope you guys liked it! ****I think the last chapter contained enough happiness and Kick for you guys so I decided to be sad again in this chapter. ****I know I said "heels-over-head" instead of the other way around, just wanted to say that that's what I meant. It's short, I know, but don't judge. Happy Valentine's Day and please don't forget to review! (Wow, over 160 reviews so far? I love you guys so much)  
By the way, I got the idea for the promise ring from rockyb12110's 100 Kick Moments- Chapter 16 (/s/8799308/16/100-Kick-Moments) so go check it out if you want to read the source of my inspiration for this chapter!**


	17. Seven Billion

There are seven billion people in the world, including Kim Crawford.

Most of those seven billion people she would never meet in her lifetime. There were those in her town, which she had no interest in becoming acquainted with, and there were those, halfway around the world and back that she'd never even think about meeting. There just wasn't enough time in her life to come in contact with so many people.

So, she chose a handful of those billions to stay close to. Those people were to include her family, her friends, and one particular boy. This boy's name just so happened to be Jack Brewer.

To her, he was one in a million or, to put it in perspective, _one in_ _seven billion_. So you would see how special she considered him to be.

Because this boy was the one in seven billion that she decided to stay the closest to, it was only a matter of time before her heart was his. There came time when she would only see him, blocking out even the select few that had been chosen to share their time with her. Her world revolved around this boy, this one boy out of billions that had quite effectively stolen her heart, this one boy that made her forget about the rest of the world so easily.

One would see how their bond would make the slow drifting so very painful, which was the case as the boy slowly went from one _in_ seven billion to one _of_ seven billion. Time spent together diminished and those conversations they seemed to enjoy so much came to a halt. The special bond was broken, as per the command of fate.

Of course, the boy had promised to stay with her through the whole ordeal that she called her life, but it became too much. He couldn't bear to watch what was left of Kim drift farther and farther away. He couldn't bear to be with her because every time he stood by her side, she was less of the Kim he knew and ultimately loved. So he did the only thing he thought could spare his heart from the pain of loving this girl, and he distanced himself.

Soon enough only polite gestures were exchanged whenever Kim could comprehend what was happening and he moved on to spend his life with other people, some that the Kim never get the chance to meet and others that she wouldn't be able to stand if she were normal again. But that, however, was the way it had to be and nothing would be able to return to normal.

Kim would watch the boy walk down the hall without even so much a glance in her direction and somehow feel that something wasn't there that should've been, but not remembering in detail what it really was. Their past memories were nothing but that, distant shadows of what used to be, slowly slipping and becoming harder to recall.

She could distinctly remember four faces, however, including the boy Jack's. She could clearly remember having a wonderful time with the four faces, but could never remember the connection between them. Were they family friends? Were they only acquaintances? She couldn't remember what they meant to her, only that they apparently shared great memories.

How long had it been since the group of five had been together and happy? Two years? Three? She stopped keeping track after it became apparent that they wouldn't continue the friendship they once had. Was it really a friendship?

Clearly she remembered the love she had for one of the four, but who could it have been? She remembered every detail of how the boy had made her feel, had been as if she were on cloud nine, only a bit more nerve-wracking. Had he felt the same way? She shook her head on the thought and concentrated on the happiness that the half-memories brought her.

Did she want to rekindle the flame that most would call companionship? This seemed to be a bad idea, obviously they were all meant to be as they were, strangers to one another, just five of seven billion. No connection whatsoever yet strangely linked in a way they could not describe.

Each would steal a glance at the rest, whether it was at school or the mall, seeing as one of them was not a high school student. The yearning for the closeness they once had apparent in all their faces but Kim's, she didn't remember exactly what they had anyway.

Why didn't she remember? She would answer that question herself if she knew why, if she knew that is was an actual question to be asked. All she knew was what she could remember, which was actually quite fuzzy to her and a small amount, and that she was alone.

Why was she alone? Another good question for the peanut gallery.

She crossed her arms and decided not to think too hard, she would surely strain herself and the doctor would scold her on her next visit. She looked to her wall where she scribbled dates, numbers, and sentences that nobody but her would understand. Only about two days until she saw Dr. Serbin, and she knew if she stressed herself with all of these mindless questions, that she'd be in trouble.

"Don't strain your mind too much now, Miss Crawford. You need to think about your mental health, not things you can't even remember," he had said last week. She decided not to pay attention to him, screw her mental health. She could stop thinking when she was dead, and not a minute before, especially when all she had left were the blurry memories of the past.

She would sit for hours on her balcony, screwing her eyes shut and reaching in the deepest recesses of her mind to try and pull the memories loose so she could at least have a few fleeting moments of genuine happiness. Those split seconds of ecstasy were hard to come by, given her current state and she learned to enjoy them as they came and not to get too depressed as they faded to black.

Sometimes, however, she could not control herself as those happy memories disappeared, and she spiraled into a deep, black pit of depression. But nothing a trip to the therapist couldn't fix, right?

"_Jack, there's something wrong with me," Kim says Jack's eyes widen but he stands his ground._

"_That's, that's alright," he says, reaching out to take her hands. "We'll get through this together, Kim. You and me."_

"_There's, something wrong with my head. I-I don't know how to put it without giving you a heart attack," she says half seriously and half jokingly._

_Jack looks her deeply in the eyes and whispers, "Go ahead, I'm ready." Kim looks down at her shoes, dreading what she's about to say. _

"_I have Huntington's Disease," she starts, trying to say it as delicately as possible. "I don't remember what the doctor said but I think I got it from my dad, even though he only has the gene, he passed it on to me. And now I have to deal with it." _

_Jack sucks in a breath, this isn't happening. _

"_So what does the doctor say? What's going to happen to you? What are you going to do?" Jack says shooting out questions as if his mouth was a machine gun. Kim doesn't appreciate this. _

"_Stop. Jack. One question at a time, please," she says sternly. One question is okay, but three, four at a time? She can't handle that._

"_Okay, just start by telling me this: What's going to happen?" he says, more slowly and sympathetically. He knows how hard this has to be for his Kim, and he wants to make everything as easy for her as possible. _

_Kim draws in a shaky breath, "Well, the doctor says I'll get a lot of mood swings, I'll start to hallucinate, I'll be irritable sometimes, and that's just some of the behavioral symptoms." She stops for a moment to let Jack begin to soak it in. "And then it get's worse, I'll get dementia. That means I'll forget a lot of stuff, my personality's going to make a complete 180, I'll get confused and disoriented, and basically I'll go mad. But, I still have a little while before that all happens, I think." _

She scrambled to get to the wall and write what she had just remembered, terrified yet ecstatic. She needed to put something on those walls before she forgot it again.

The walls, so full of writing, contained key moments that she would suddenly recall and scribble on the yellow paint before she forgot again. She thought of it as a sort of collection of what used to be, something that nobody would understand at first glance unless they picked apart Kim's brain first.

"We did karate." Did she really? If she did, what belt was she? Was she any good? Did she participate in the activity with the rest of the mystery group?

"Bobby Wasabi?" Was this a person? A movie? What connection did she have with this name, this strange, odd, yet weirdly familiar name?

"An apple." Just a simple fruit, yes. But this one obviously had meant much more that it would let on, had it really been that special?

"Jack." Who was this boy? Was he the one she was so in love with? Did he have long hair? Was he handsome? Was he even part of the group or was he just a faceless name, one that meant less that the lowliest ant on the sidewalk?

Those were some of the things on this infamous wall of partial memories, just the little things she wrote down to see if she could jog her memory. That, of course, hadn't happened yet but Kim never lost hope. Because what is hope but a waking dream?

Kim's dreams were filled with vivid and slightly déjà-vu-like scenes, as if she had lived all of it before. She always tried as hard as she could to remember them every morning, but it was always nothing but a hazy mess of words she never had time to write down. But she never gave up hope.

Even if she didn't remember exactly what they had, the face, the boy, Jack, would always be one in seven billion, even if she didn't remember him. Never would she let him fade into the crowd full of so many others, no, she wouldn't let that happen. Not as long as she clung to the faded memories and had a brain that worked. But of course, that wouldn't last long either, she was slowly succumbing to her disease. But maybe that was why she was so alone?

Yes that had to be it. Then again, she was only one of seven billion other people on the planet that she would never meet, and one less person wouldn't make a big difference to anyone. Not even the people she enjoyed remembering would notice, she was sure. She hoped they would however, whoever they were.

Then she opened her eyes.

Because what is hope but a waking dream?

* * *

**A/N: What actually happened? Was it a dream? Yes? No? Maybe so? What the flip did this all actually mean? Why did I even write this? All very good questions for the peanut gallery (ah, I loved that line, I don't know why) and you'll just have to answer them yourselves. Actually, I'll answer one because it's the only one that I really _have _the answer to, which is why I even bothered with writing this. Well, I wanted to try writing differently, and I actually like how this turned out even if Kim forgetting everything and the sudden mention of Huntington's Disease was a bit random. So deal with it and just read it until you love it (unless, of course, you already love it. In which case, you should just read it again for the fun of it.)  
For all of those who don't know what Huntington's Disease is, it's a hereditary disease that occurs when there is a mutation in thr fourth chromosome. There's a 50/50% chance of a person getting the disease if their parent had it but they will still have the gene. It's irreversible and really horrible to live with, so my admiration goes out to all that have it or have loved ones with the disease. If you want a better description than I can provide here, be my guest and do some research on it, I was sitting at the computer for hours trying to be as accurate as possible.  
Anyways I hope you guys all liked this as much as I do, and for all you famous philosopher fans, I put in a little Aristotle for you! Please drop me a review in my email, it always makes me so happy to read them and respond (which, by the way, I'm extremely behind in doing so sorry if I haven't replied to your review! I promise I'll get to it soon!) And now I'm thinking that I've made this author's note waaay too long so I'll just end it with my expression of love for all of you guys:  
I love you all so much for leaving so many reviews and for being the loyal readers that you are! Thank you so much for being my inspiration for writing and stay posted for a new chapter! Mwah ;***

**And thank you SOSOSOSO much to LifeIsNotForever-NotEvenClose for being my beta again, I was nervous putting this out there for you guys! Thank you soooooo much! **


	18. When I Was Your Man

"So what are you doing for the talent show? It sucks that it's mandatory this year for everyone in our grade," I said to Kim as we stretched for practice.

"Oh me? I'm going to- Lucas!" she said, interrupting herself to greet a tall boy with dark brown hair and scary green eyes that walked into the dojo who's name was apparently Lucas. "What are you doing here? I told you to come by _after_ practice!" she cried running over to give him a hug and a… kiss on the cheek.

"Oh sorry Kimmy, I thought you said to come before!" said Lucas as he snaked his arm around her waist.

I felt my fists clench as I asked, "Uh, Kim. Who is this guy?" She looked up at him and shrugged, as if weighing her options.

Finally she gave in, "Well now's a good a time as any I suppose. Let's just tell him Lucas." She gave him a look and he nodded, both of them turning back to me.

"Jack, Lucas is my boyfriend," she said with a teensy smile.

I felt like a huge pile of the heaviest bricks had been dumped on my chest and I couldn't get out from underneath them. Like I had been thrown out into the ocean with a lead weight on my ankle and I was slowly drowning. Like I was being forced to watch the scene in Of Mice and Men where George kills Lennie over and over again. Like I had just been told that my best friend and crush had found herself a steady boyfriend and there was nothing I could do about it.

Instead of congratulating them I asked stiffly, "How long?" I knew I was being an unsupportive best friend, but seeing as that was as far as I was ever going to get, I really didn't do much to hide my discontent.

"A month," they both said in sync. My heart broke, not because Kim had a boyfriend, but because she didn't trust me enough to tell me about this relationship for _a whole month_. Seeing as I was her best friend, I should've been first to know on the spot.

Seeing my expression, Kim asked lightly, "Jack are you okay?"

"Just peachy," I said a little harsher than I had intended. Even though it wasn't with me that she was able to be so happy with, I should've been at least a little excited for her, that she had finally scored a boyfriend for more than two weeks. But I wasn't, and it showed.

"Jack, please don't be mad at me for not telling you. I just wanted to make sure that he was someone that wouldn't take advantage of me or break my heart before I told you," she said quietly, and I could tell she was expecting a little more enthusiasm and a lot less Jack Frost from me. "I didn't want you to have to deal with 'Teary Depressed Kim' again because I felt bad for dumping all my problems on you whenever a boy broke up with me."

Before I could say anything, Lucas piped up and spoke to me directly and on his own for the first time, "Look man, she was doing it for you. She was being a good friend so can you just cut her some slack? Besides, she doesn't have to tell you everything that goes on in her life. Maybe she didn't want you to know about us for a reason." This caught me off guard but only made me get mad. He didn't know Kim like I did, and if he had he would've understood that she wasn't like that.

"Listen Lucas, or whatever your name is, you might think you know Kim, but you don't know her like I do. Hell, you barely know the first thing about her! Don't talk to me like that when you don't even know what you're saying. And if you're going to go out with Kim you'd better get an attitude change or you won't have my blessing and you certainly won't have my trust," I said in a dangerously quiet voice, barely above a whisper. I didn't like this guy and if it wasn't already apparent to even the most nameless passerby then obviously they had to be blind or something.

"Jack," Kim said sternly, as if she were scolding a dog, Lucas standing rigidly by her side, his arm still wrapped around her waist possessively. I, however, wouldn't have it. I stormed past them and out the doors of the dojo, walking too quickly to my house so I could nurse my wounds alone.

When I finally arrived and slumped on the couch, I reflected on what I had said. I was being mean and spiteful, sure. But this obviously wasn't the guy for Kim. He just reeked of arrogance and edacity, two things that didn't sit well with either Kim or me. Then I thought that I had been too harsh on him too quickly, and that if Kim had given him a chance, that I should too. I quickly brushed that idea off though, there was no way in hell that I'd give him a chance. But I would, however, do a bit of research.

After an hour poring through past copies of the yearbook and searching him up on the Internet, I had learned a few things about him. He made the varsity swim team almost immediately after starting ninth grade, which was impressive but swimming wasn't very interesting to me. Who in their right mind would want to be in a tight suit squeezing all the wrong places for four hours every day? Certainly not me.

He was in lots of after school clubs and committees, including the Pearl of Seaford Pageant committee, the fencing club, and the school newspaper. How that guy got everything done was beyond me, it looked like he'd be too busy to spend time with Kim every day. He was voted most athletic and best hair two years in a row and had girls lining up to be his new girlfriend, although he was notorious for breaking a girl's heart in less than two weeks. Seemed like Kim was special.

I spent the whole next week trying to avoid Kim when she was with Lucas and trying not to mess things up more with her. She was mad at me for what had happened at the dojo, and I had yet to apologize for it. Honestly, I didn't think I should be the one to apologize because all I was trying to do was to protect her heart from the clutches of evil, but she wouldn't have it. She insisted that I was trying to mess up the first real relationship she had had in a long time and would not forgive me. So, we were in a silent feud that broke my heart for that week, with the talent show that was supposed to happen on Friday approaching too quickly.

So quickly, in fact, that when the day arrived I had nothing to perform. Scrambling to think of something, I decided that I'd put my phone on shuffle and sing the first song that came up. Of course, it had to be _When I Was Your Man_ by Bruno Mars. It fit my situation so I decided, why not?

It was simple enough to learn and by the time it was time to go onstage, I was as confident as I would ever get with the song. As a split second decision, I decided that I'd dedicate it to Kim as a sort of apology. Then I'd actually pull her aside for the real thing.

I pulled out a stool with me and I caught sight of Kim sitting all cuddled up with Lucas. Third row, fourth seat from the left. My heart sank and I chucked the idea of the dedication out the window and settled for getting this over as quickly as I could. Because then I wouldn't have to sit here, a subject for ridicule by that guy Lucas. Because then Kim wouldn't see me in my weakest moments, too scared to even dedicate her a song.

"Well I _was_ going to dedicate this song to my friend but, um… That doesn't seem like a very good idea. I'd hurt too much," I said dolefully as I adjusted the mic, trying to gaze at the _whole _crowd and not just Kim.

"So, here goes nothing," I said as I began strumming the music, hearing gasps and girls go "aww" and sighing all at the same time.

"_Same bed but it feels just a little bit bigger now_

_Our song on the radio but it don't sound the same_

_When our friends talk about you, all it does is just tear me down_

_Cause my heart breaks a little when I hear your name_

_It all just sounds like oooooh…_

_Mmm, too young, too dumb to realize_

_That I should have bought you flowers_

_And held your hand_

_Should have gave you all my hours_

_When I had the chance_

_Take you to every party_

_Cause all you wanted to do was dance_

_Now my baby's dancing_

_But she's dancing with another man_

_My pride, my ego, my needs, and my selfish ways_

_Caused a good strong woman like you to walk out my life_

_Now I never, never get to clean up the mess I made, ohh…_

_And it haunts me every time I close my eyes_

_It all just sounds like oooooh…_

_Mmm, too young, too dumb to realize_

_That I should have bought you flowers_

_And held your hand_

_Should have gave you all my hours_

_When I had the chance_

_Take you to every party_

_Cause all you wanted to do was dance_

_Now my baby's dancing_

_But she's dancing with another man_

_Although it hurts_

_I'll be the first to say that I was wrong_

_Oh, I know I'm probably much too late_

_To try and apologize for my mistakes_

_But I just want you to know_

_I hope he buys you flowers_

_I hope he holds your hand_

_Give you all his hours_

_When he has the chance_

_Take you to every party_

_Cause I remember how much you loved to dance_

_Do all the things I should have done_

_When I was your man_

_Do all the things I should have done_

_When I was your man…"_

When I stopped singing, I just looked at that mic stand, unable to look out at the crowd. I would look straight at Kim if I did.

Instead, I gave a wry smile and said, "Who am I kidding? I was never her man anyway."

I walked off the stage, ignoring the cheers and the screams of girls too desperate to quite realize that I was not exactly in the mood to flirt or bow or do whatever it was they wanted. Maybe if I had been paying attention, I would've noticed a certain blonde running after me, screaming my name with tears pooling in her beautiful hazelnut eyes. And maybe I could've fixed things between us right then and there, but I didn't. Because I said before, I ignored everything and stalked off the stage, through the back of the auditorium, and out the front door.

Because who was I kidding? I was never her man anyway.

* * *

**A/N: So what do you guys think? I liked it, and I finally wrote something! (I had a serious case of writer's block...) So obviously the inspiration for this was When I Was Your Man by: Bruno Mars and I definitely don't own it or Kickin' It. I heard a really good version of the song by Corey Gray on youtube, go check it out! I had it on loop throughout this whole writing session and I absolutely love it. I hope you guys liked this and please don't forget to leave me a review! And also, in this one and for the next ones and the ones before Seven Billion, Kim doesn't have Huntington's Disease. Just thought I'd clear that up before any confusion arose! Thanks for reading!**


	19. Totally Crazy

_January 29_

_So writing in this journal is supposed to help. Supposed to make talking to people about my "problems" easier. Supposed to be the first step to recovery._

_Recovery… from what? I'm not crazy. I'm not angry or depressed. I don't cut. I'm confused, that's it. Alone. Sometimes even a little sad. But I'm definitely not depressed or suicidal. _

_My therapist though, or rather, you are convinced that I'm going to kill myself any day now. That if I don't write in this dumb notebook, all of my "unspoken feelings" will well up inside of me and get so overwhelming that I'll implode. I assure you, I won't kill myself or spontaneously combust. (Or become a pyro.)_

_I don't need to be writing. _

_I don't even like it._

_I hope you know that I'm only doing this for my mom. I'm only doing this because I can't stand to see her worried about me, and that I'm only pouring all my nonexistent feelings of depression and possibly suicide onto this paper to make her feel better. I hate being the one to hurt her. _

_Before you take my words and twist them into something you can write into your not-so-little file labeled "Jackson Brewer", no, I do __**not**__ abuse my mother. No way. I wouldn't ever dare raise a hand against her, so please, don't think about it that way. _

_Please._

_Another thing, Kim's starting to question this annoying little black journal. She wants to know "what's wrong" with me now because of this lame exercise. She'll ask me why I carry around this journal and I'll shrug it off. She'll ask why I've been so quiet lately and I'll dismiss it with a (fake) smile and a promise to be more talkative. _

_The thing is, I don't want to talk to her. I don't want to talk to anyone anymore. It's a waste of breath. Anyway, I'd end up spilling my guts to her if I started to talk about anything. (My metaphorical guts, no I'm not going to kill myself in front of her.) Once I start talking to her, I just can't stop. It's probably because I like her so much; I'm willing to bet anything on it. (I don't gamble.) _

_Wow, so I've told you how I feel about Kim. What else are you going to trick me into telling you? Do you want to know my deepest, darkest secrets? (You'd love that wouldn't you?) You'll never figure them out; it's too dark inside of me to see them. So that just sucks for you. _

_I'm not going to tell you my whole life's story or a sad tale about Jack Brewer as a little boy with a dead guy for a father. You don't really know anything about me, and I'd like to keep it that way. _

_I really should burn this damned thing, but you probably wouldn't like that. Then again, you probably don't like that I just cussed. But guess what? It's __my__ journal, and you can't filter what I write in here. You said it yourself. _

_So here's a lovely word, just for you:_

"_Fuck"_

_Would you like me to write it again? I really could keep writing it for you, four letters on every page. (No? Well okay, I'll save my curses for later.) _

_April 8_

"_You should try poetry."_

_That's what you told me today at our latest (therapy) session. _

_So I wrote a poem, thinking about you the whole time, please enjoy it. _

_You say I'm crazy._

_I say you're wrong. _

_You say you're right,_

_Therefore, I'm crazy. _

_I wasn't crazy yesterday,_

_But I'm crazy today._

_So of course,_

_I'll be crazy tomorrow. _

_Crazy until you say I'm fixed._

_Crazy until I say you were right._

_At this rate,_

_I'll be crazy forever. _

_Did you like it? (I bet you didn't) _

_It wasn't very fun to write, in fact, I hate writing poems. I was never any good; my teachers always gave me a gold star for effort._

_(But you won't.) _

_So why did I try? _

_(Next time I'll just fill the margins with doodles.)_

_July 15_

_I'm starting to doubt that this does anything. (Who am I kidding; I never thought this would do anything other than earn me weird looks.) _

_Kim almost read this today, and now I'm seriously considering burning it. If Kim ever read this, she'd… I don't know what she'd do. But she wouldn't be happy to learn that I've been keeping this a secret. _

_I can see her now, "Why didn't you tell me? I could've helped you!"_

_But I don't need her help. I don't need help at all. I'm fine, if only you'd let me tell you that. (If only you'd believe me.) _

_You don't let me do karate. (Why?) _

_Is it too dangerous for me? If it is, then please tell me why my mother let my grandpa start teaching me when I was five. Please tell me why there are people actually training at the dojo. Please tell me why I love it so much. (And don't tell me it's because I like to do dangerous things.) _

_October 30_

_You've managed to take away everything I enjoy, everyone I love. _

_When you took away karate, I dealt with it. (I didn't like it, but you swore it was for the best.)_

_When you took away school, I was actually pretty glad. (Who wants to sit in a meat locker for six hours with people you hate?) _

_But when you took away my friends, you crossed an unspoken line. (You can't do that.) _

_Keeping me from anyone except you and my mother, that's just cruel. _

_If I wasn't crazy to begin with, I am now. (You've officially broken me.)_

_December 22_

_I'm done with these "therapy sessions." _

_All you do is bring me down, ruin my day, and make me more and more crazy, depressed, anxious. _

_I'm not going to you anymore, I'm saying goodbye to my mom and just ending it. _

_(Goodbye.)_

_Thanks for ruining everything I had, for taking a completely sane version of me and breaking me into pieces, putting me back together backwards. _

_(I'm now everything you suspected in the beginning.) _

_I'm leaving this somewhere that you'll be able to read it. (And feel guilty.)_

_You're going to read it and realize that you've been making things worse than they ever were, and it hasn't even been a year yet. You're managed to destroy me, to leave me an empty shell of what I used to be. _

_I hope this makes for a juicy entry for your file, I hope it makes you feel like a failure to stamp a big, red "TERMINATED" on the front of the folder. _

_I'll probably come back and haunt you. (What else do dead people do?)_

_You've done a hell of a job as a therapist. Congratulations. _

_(You've turned a completely sane boy, totally crazy.)_

* * *

**A/N: Hey everyone! So I haven't updated in eighty years so here you go! I don't know what brought this on, I just woke up in the middle of the night and scribbled the first half in a random journal and the rest I finished a few hours ago. I hope you liked it, and I'm sorry for being so inactive.  
By the way, this is Jack writing in a journal prescribed by his therapist. Don't ask why, just let it happen. ;)  
Did y'all like the little original poem? (Or course you didn't, who am I kidding?) Like Jack, I can't write poems, but I tried!**

**205 REVIEWS? OH MY FLIP YOU'RE ALL AMAZING. Shoutout to my lovely 200th reviewer: Rockette-in-Training! Thanks so much, you all mean so much! :')**

**Thanks for reading, I love you all so much!**


	20. Shark Season

**A/N: Just quickly responding to a review left by an anonymous person telling me that "that was just awful" and that I should "stop these one shots they r so depressing," I'm sorry darling but if you don't enjoy these stories as much as I love writing them, then I'd advise you not to read them! One negative review isn't going to make me stop writing like this! I'm sorry you didn't like them, but that's really all I can do for you.  
Bah, enough negativity! Please, enjoy this!  
**

* * *

**Kim's POV**

"No. Kim! Kim! You know I hate the sea!" he yelled as I dragged him across the sand to the ocean. "Stop, please!" He struggled against my pull, hands trying to wrench out of my grip. He dug his heels into the sand, successfully achieving nothing, as we took the final steps to the cool water.

"Come on Jack, just a little while! Please?" I pleaded with my best puppy-dog face as I held his hands loosely and walked backward deeper into the shimmering blue ocean. I could see he was conflicted, unsure whether to choose his fear of the sea or me

He gave a huge sigh and finally followed me willingly to the deepest area that I could stand in, which wasn't really that far in. I could tell he was uncomfortable and I tried to make light conversation to draw his attention away from the animals that _weren't _lurking under the water just waiting to attack us.

Or so I thought.

"Can we get out now? We've been in here long enough," he said ten minutes later, holding his pruny fingers out as proof. I chuckled and pulled his hands back underwater, urging him that he was doing great.

"How is standing in the middle of the ocean scared to death _doing great_?" he asked incredulously.

"First, we are not in the middle of the ocean. I'd say fifteen feet from the shore- max," I started. "Second, you're not scared to death! You're just mildly terrified!" I winked at him before noticing the look in his eyes.

"Okay, fine. We'll get out," I said with a sigh. "Baby." We walked to shore, although I can hardly say that Jack was walking. He was sprinting to the edge of the water, splashing and making a sound that was something like a cross between a four-year-old girl and a chimpanzee. I stopped to chuckle, only to be cut short by the sound of screams and a painful _tug_ on my ankle, pulling me underwater.

* * *

**Jack's POV**

I heard screams as I shook out my hair and my heart started racing, what was going on?

"Shark! Shark!" came a voice.

"Attention! Everyone, clear the water immediately! Clear the water, now!" yelled the lifeguard through s megaphone. This couldn't be happening. I scanned the crowd of panicking people for Kim, only to find that she was nowhere in sight.

"Kim!" I screamed at the top of my lungs, immediately fearing the worst. "Kim! Where are you?"

Suddenly a woman's voice came over the sound of the terrified beach-goers, "There's a girl in the water!" My eyes darted to where I had left Kim in the water, heart dropping to the center of the Earth as soon as I saw the red water and thrashing body.

"Someone do something! Someone! Help her!" I yelled at everyone I could, but nobody seemed to be about to jump into the water with a giant, blood-hungry shark.

_Come on Jack; time to conquer your fears. Kim's life depends on it._

Before I could talk myself out of it, I was racing toward the water with the first thing I grabbed in hand, an umbrella pole. I had almost reached the shore when two guys held me back, saying that it was suicide to save her.

"Let me go! I hate to save her! She's my best friend, please!" I bellowed, yanking my arms from their iron grip and continuing into the water, praying that I wasn't too late and that we both got out of this alive.

I sprinted to where Kim was, screaming and bleeding all over the place, trying to free herself from the shark's jaws. I tried yelling at her from where I was, telling her that it'd be okay, but she either didn't hear me or didn't believe me. Either way, she continued thrashing about in the water, just feet from where I was.

When I was close enough, I started stabbing at the ferocious animal with the umbrella pole, ignoring Kim's and the crowd's screams and the red-tinted water. I conjured up everything I had ever read about shark attacks, aim for the nose, eyes, and gills. Back up against your swimming partner. Keep calm.

I pulled Kim somewhat behind me and kept hitting at the shark, narrowly escaping being bitten more than once. Eventually I landed a few solid strikes and the shark backed off. Only when it was out of sight did I turn to help Kim, I couldn't risk it coming back while we were both vulnerable.

I picked her up bridal style, paying as little attention as I could to how much blood there was and focusing on getting her out of the water. My mind was completely blank, save a few thoughts of, _need to get her out. Need to call 911. Need her to stay alive. _

"Call 911! Somebody call 911!" I called out into the crowd as we approached the shore. A few people scrambled to call the ambulance while a few others ran up to help me, clearing a path and providing a surf board and clean towel to lay her on. I placed her gingerly on the board and took in the severity of her injuries.

Her left leg was completely covered in blood, making it hard to tell which parts where actually bleeding. Her arms were cut up and missing several important pieces of skin, her eyes staring blankly into the sky. I could tell she was going to pass out any moment now, but I heard the ambulance sirens and I knew I couldn't let her slip away from me.

"Kim, stay with me now. The ambulance is almost here, you're going to be okay," I said as I grabbed one of her hands and squeezed it lightly. "Keep your eyes focused on me, okay? Keep them open, focused on me." The paramedics were racing through the crowd; gurney in tow and a lady waved them over to where we were.

Few words were exchanged except to tell the paramedics what had happened and that she needed to get to the hospital _right away_. She was wheeled off into the back of the ambulance and I watched as it drove off down the street at full speed, time ticking as they made their way to the hospital. As I was forbidden to ride in the back with her, I was stuck standing on the sand, helpless, trusting her life in the hands of people I had never met.

Cheers erupted from the gathering that was still on the beach, congratulatory claps on the back from complete strangers not doing much to make me feel any better. I just stood numbly, heart still pumping at a million miles an hour, mind blurry and clothes dripping with salt water and blood.

If only I had refused to let Kim drag me to the water, if only I had paid better attention to her. If only the news reporters had broadcasted that shark season had begun, if only the beach had a flag waving, signaling about dangerous marine life. If only, if only, if only. If it hadn't been her, then who would have been hurt? A little girl? An old man? I couldn't bring myself to think about that, I didn't ever want this to happen to anyone, ever.

One thought stood out from the rest however, outlined in the bright red of Kim's blood:

_This is why I hate the ocean._

* * *

**A/N: Phew! First attempt at writing something, erm- gory. Not that it was that much of a description, but I don't know, first step in a positive direction? So if my facts aren't correct or a shark just wouldn't act like this, well let's just call it artistic license. I hope you liked this, thanks for reading, and my apologies for opening this chapter with that author's note, I just felt like I should respond to that. Thanks again everyone!**


	21. Shark Season Part 2

**A/N: Just responding quickly to Stinger5150, no I'm not depressed! I'm just a happy, too-loud, bubbly, teenage girl that likes to write sad things, I find it so much fun! But it's fine and thanks for worrying about me dear, that's very sweet! **

***I'm also apologizing in advance for the length of this chapter...***

* * *

Several moments later, I got so sick of the sound of cheering that I swear I almost slapped everyone within ten feet of me upside the head. Didn't they realize that Kim could've been dying at that moment? Didn't they remember that that shark had basically mauled her? Didn't they fear for their own children, or at least feel relieved that it hadn't been their kid in that water? I didn't care that I had been the hero for all of five minutes; all I cared about was that Kim could've been dead at that moment and I didn't even know. I only hoped that she was doing, relatively, okay. That she was alive.

"Shut up!" I yelled, finally reaching my breaking point. How dare they be so happy right now? "Can't you see she could be dead? What kind of people cheer right after a girl gets attacked by a shark?" I shook my head and sprinted to the parking lot, needing to get to the hospital as quickly as possible. I needed to see if she was okay, if she was still with me.

I drove as quickly as I could, cursing at each red light that I encountered. Did the universe hate me that much? When I reached the hospital however, I was forced to wait longer to see Kim, the doctors were working on her and the nurses weren't allowed to take me in. I sat there in the waiting room in my bloody, salty swim trunks, flipping through magazines that I had no interest in reading, until I was finally able to see Kim, about four hours later.

"Crawford, Kim? Room 511," said the receptionist as she rang for a nurse to come escort me, verifying that I actually knew her.

"Yes, she's my best friend. She was attacked by a shark earlier," I said quickly. "Her birthday is on May 1st, she's a Taurus and her favorite color is pink which she looks absolutely stunning in. Oops, did I really just say that? Sorry, um-" the receptionist held up a finger and smiled at me.

"That's okay, I can tell you care about her, I don't need her whole life's story. The nurse is coming, good luck dear," she said with a wink as a young lady in scrubs came through the waiting room door and led me through the hallways that made me feel as if I was in one of those horror movie nightmares where the halls never end. Then, one awkward elevator ride and three endless hallways later, we arrived at room 511.

"Now Mr. Brewer, please don't make too much noise, Miss Crawford needs her rest. She's been through a lot today, and she's very tired," said the nurse whose nametag indicated that her name was Andrea. She opened the door quietly and ushered me in, watching from the threshold as I pulled up a chair and took in the sight of my best friend in the hospital for the second time in my life.

Her leg was completely wrapped up in bright white gauze, and I could only imagine the amount of stitches she had underneath that. Her arms were also mostly wrapped in the white fabric, except for a few areas that were untouched and where the IV and tubes and connectors were attached. She had a few band-aids on her face where smaller cuts and scratches were and there was a monitor on a table next to the bed that showed her vital signs and heartbeat. Next to that hung her used-to-be-yellow bikini, now stained a dark reddish orange from her own blood that I tried my hardest not to look at. I stayed completely silent, seeing her like that was hard. I wasn't used to it, and certainly never want to be.

I gingerly reached out to hold her hand, not daring to move it, only hold it lightly. She stirred slightly, not waking up but that was enough to let me know that she'd be okay. Besides, what else are doctors for but to help fix people?

For some reason my mind flickered back to a few days earlier, when Kim had invited me to her house to watch a movie. Knowing Kim, I was expecting a thriller or an action movie so I was just a bit caught off guard when she shoved a pile of Disney DVDs into my arms the moment she let me in, chattering about a Disney movie marathon. I grumbled but obliged, I hadn't watched one of Walt Disney's movies in years.

One particular song stuck with me though, I had been humming it all week. It was silly because it was one of the most romantic songs in one of the most romantic scenes of Aladdin, but it was stuck in my head nonetheless.

I smiled and started to sing to her, hoping she'd hear me in her sleep.

"_I can show you the world_

_Shining, shimmering, splendid_

_Tell me, princess, now when did_

_You last let your heart decide?_

_I can open your eyes_

_Take you wonder by wonder_

_Over, sideways and under_

_On a magic carpet ride_

_A whole new world_

_A new fantastic point of view_

_No one to tell us no or where to go_

_Or say we're only dreaming,"_

I paused, not remembering the rest of the lyrics, only the melody. As I hummed, I noticed Kim smile in her sleep, mumbling something.

"A whole new world…" she said quietly and almost unintelligible to anyone unless you had just been singing that very song, just barely catching the phrase in a slow mush of sleepy words.

And that let me know that she was okay, that she'd recover and be fine.

* * *

**A/N: What'd you think? Sorry again that it's so short, I promise the next chapter will be much longer! I appreciate all the reviews, thank you so much! I'm still trying to catch up on responding to them, so expect to hear from me soon! :) Who else is totally excited for SPYFALL? I know I am, super pumped for the return of Kickin' It! Ah I saw the commercial today and I swear I almost died. **

**Anyways, thank you for reading!**


	22. Spyfall Redux

**Before y'all read this and complain that you _didn't _see Spyfall, I'm warning you:**

**IF YOU DIDN'T SEE SPYFALL TONIGHT, PLEASE REFRAIN FROM READING THIS. **

**I REPEAT:**

**IF YOU HAVE NOT HAD THE OPPORTUNITY TO SEE SPYFALL, PLEASE REFRAIN FROM READING THIS DRABBLE. **

**THAT IS ALL.**

* * *

"Throw it!" Jack screamed, tossing Kim the rather large key. The key contained a lethal gas that would kill everyone in the room, as the hit man had intended.

"What? Throw what?" Kim asked, rather perplexed. She looked toward Jack for some sort of clarification before he beat up poor Phil.

"The key! Throw it out the window!" he yelled, going in for a punch in the gut. Everyone looked at her while she tried to find a window, only there were none. The hit man planned well.

As she looked to Jack one more time, the key exploded and let off the gas. Kim choked and coughed, it was too late. She glanced at Jack one more time before he fell. And before she died.

* * *

**A/N: Ok sorry it's so short, I just _reeeeeally_ wanted to get _something_ out tonight and it's basically just a drabble. 126 words my friends. I might rewrite it, make it longer, so tell me what you guys want!**

**AND WHO ELSE SAW SPYFALL. OH MY LORD I PASSED OUT. DID YOU GUYS SEE THE NEW OPENING?! WHO ELSE SAW IT, PLEASE TELL ME YOU SAW IT WHEN JACK PUT HIS ARM AROUND KIM AT THE END. THAT OPENING BROKE ME. AND THE END. OOH GURL, THEY SURE DO DANCE WELL. JACK AND HIS DASHING SUIT MADE ME SWOON.  
Ok, that's enough. Sorry for my hardcore fangirling.  
**

**(Who else realized that Eddie left? I wonder what the story is going to be behind that...)  
**

******OH and about the poll, it's open until this Friday, although I'm pretty sure that everyone that's going to vote has already done so. Keep updating Harsh Words is winning so far with 55% followed by Write a new fanfic for Kickin' It with 38%! Thanks so much for voting and for reading, I love you all ;D**  



	23. House of Mirrors

"Wait Miss," says the man at the ticket booth of the House of Mirrors. I'm at the carnival with Jack and I'm taking a look around while he gets something to eat. I'm not hungry even though I skipped breakfast and lunch. There's no way I'd want the food here anyway, a single bite would ruin my diet and take me _way_ over my daily fat and calorie limit. I can't ruin it; I have to be as thin as I can. I need to be skinny. I need to be pretty.

"What?" I ask tiredly, suddenly nervous for no reason yet too tired to really care. He motions to the inside of the attraction and gives me a warning look.

"Be careful in there Miss. People say they _see things_. Things that aren't real," he starts. He points a hand at me, or rather, the stump of a hand. "I cannot be responsible for anything you do see, and please be as watchful and attentive as possible. I can you're troubled and this could manifest itself in the mirrors. But have a good time in there!" He smiles at me and ushers me inside before I can even respond.

Suddenly mirrors surround me, reflecting me in all different shapes, sizes, and even different colors. I smile as I see myself in a mirror that stretches me out, making me quite tall and thin. My smile vanishes when I reach a mirror that compresses my body into a short, wide midget. I scowl and whirl around, trying to find my way through this seemingly endless hall of mirrors. I quickly walk from one side to the other, my heartbeat increasing each time I run into a dead end, reflecting my face back at me.

Then I hear laughter.

"You're completely lost, aren't you?" comes a voice from over my shoulder. I turn around and come face to face with, not surprisingly, myself. But this version of me isn't really me. At least, not the me in the real world. She has a completely different outfit and seemingly personality too, she sports a sparkly top like I see the popular girls wear, yet there's books piled up around her. "You're an idiot, everybody knows you need to keep going straight in these things."

I'm baffled, what's going on? Was the one-handed man right? Were my insecurities manifesting themselves into the mirrors?

Impossible. This is a dream, it has to be.

"Aw come on, leave fat little Kimmy alone!" comes a teasing voice from a mirror on the other side of the room. "She's just a little confused is all. Besides, she hasn't eaten since last night, haven't you Kimmy?" There's another me, but this one seems skinnier and _much _prettier. I'm instantly jealous.

"She's an idiot for doing that too! She's going to end up starving herself and for once _darling Jack_ isn't going to come save her. She'll be dead by the time he notices something," says the other Kim.

"That's not true!" shouts yet another Kim, yet this one is pudgy and not very pretty. This is how I see myself every day however, so I feel relieved to at least see _one_ familiar face. "She just needs to be skinnier. Skinny is pretty, and we all know it. She's just trying to look good for Jack!"

I smile, _'At least someone understands,'_ I think to myself.

"We heard that," say all the Kims at once, giving me a look.

"Come on girls, just shut up. I don't want to hear this right now," says a Kim dressed in dark, baggy clothing and blood dripping from one wrist. My eyes flicker to my real wrist, the one with the scars I gave myself a few days back. "I'm kind of busy," she says as she holds up a bloodstained razor. The other girls gasp, how can they not remember what I do to myself? I mean, they are me after all.

"Don't do that Kimmy!" cries the thin and pretty Kim. "You're ruining your body! That's not pretty! Jack won't like you if he sees you doing that!"

The dark Kim rolls her eyes, "I stopped caring, in case you didn't notice. I don't care if Jack sees me cutting, I don't care if he sees you starving yourself, I don't care if he sees you," she points at the pudgy Kim, "binging again, and I don't care if he sees your smart ass," she points to the Milton-ish Kim, "bitching about how_ intellectual_ and popular you are. So just shut he hell up, all of you."

"That hurts," says the smart one. "Just because you can't all be as brilliant as me doesn't mean you have to be so bitter about it. Besides, I'm pretty sure you're scaring the poor girl." She motions to where I'm standing, still watching silently, not daring to so much as _think_ of anything.

"Come on then, say something," says the dark one, now looking directly at me with an intense glare. I just look at her, like a deer caught in the headlights because I can't find my words. "What's the matter, cat got your tongue?"

"N-no," I say hoarsely, clearing my throat quickly. "What's going on? Why are you me? Why can I see you all? What the hell is happening?" I look around to the four of them, only to watch a fifth one materialize right before my eyes.

"We're… you. We're your insecurities… That man at the front was right…" says a new, more timid Kim. She seems almost scared to be here, as if she's trying to disappear.

"Well nice of you to join us, Cowardly Kim," spits the pretty one. "Took you long enough."

"You know how she is, shy and quiet," says the pudgy one, trying to calm her down before something happens.

"Leave her alone, or she'll disappear on us again," sighs the dark one, giving her a once-over with her piercing glare. "And you," she looks at me now, "you got anything else to say?" I gulp, trying to figure out what exactly I want to say to them all.

"So what she's saying is that everything the carnie out front said was true? That I'm not the only one that has had this happen to them?" I ask, trying to pretend that I'm not talking to myself, literally.

"More or less," says the pretty one as she flicks her hair over one shoulder. "Other people have seen things in here, just not this way. Sometimes it's their fears; other times it's their regrets. It's different for everyone, really."

"And why is nobody else here? Why am I alone?" I ask, becoming more and more confident with each word.

"You aren't alone, you have us," they all say in an extremely creepy way which makes my hair stand on end, goosebumps form, and all the confidence I had just earned dashes away.

"Um, I don't like this," I start, trying to avoid their glassy stares. "Can I leave, please?"

"No," they say in unison again. "You can't leave, not until you accept us. Not until you love us."

"Stop it! I don't want you here, I don't want to be here!" I scream, covering my ears as their voices jumble together, getting louder and louder until I feel like my eardrums are going to burst.

"_You're an idiot. Stupid, useless."_

"_You'll never be beautiful. You'll never be anything but hideous."_

"_You're fat. You don't deserve to eat."_

"_You're a disappointment to the world. Just stop living already."_

"_You'll never have any courage. You'll always shy away."_

They repeat their statements; their accusing words make my head spin and my heart pound. Their voices blend together until it's just a buzz of hatred and spite, and even though their words can't be hear individually, I know exactly what they're saying. I've always known what they were saying.

I fall to the ground, still clamping my hands over my ears and tears streaming down my face, unable to move. Their words hurt and I feel as if I'm the lowest of the low, unfit to be on this earth anymore. I slowly start to believe what they're saying, until another voice gnaws at the back of my head, quietly pleading me to continue on.

"_Fight Kim, I love you."_

It gets louder and louder, drowning out the hateful things that I'm saying to myself. I look around me and I see my mirrored selves laughing at me, taunting me. I'm suddenly filled with extreme, white-hot anger toward these illusions and I think of nothing else than the need to break these accursed mirrors. I don't care if I break my hand, if I get glass in my body, if I get seven years of bad luck. Nothing can be worse that what's happening to me right now.

I get up and punch and kick at the walls, shattering the glass containing the copies of myself that hate me so. Blood pours out from my knuckles and face but I keep hitting the mirrors until every single one is broken. When I'm finished, I collapse on the floor in a heap of blood, tears, and broken glass. I cry until I hear a voice, a very familiar voice.

"Kim! Kim, are you in here?" Jack cries, and I can hear him stomping through the pieces of broken glass, trying to find me. I continue to cry, I'm too much of a mess to even try to call out to him, and half of me hopes that he finds me before I decide to just end it all and "opt out." But the other half, my stronger half full of insecurities and regret thinks otherwise. I feel strong hands pull me up and out of my bloody pile of shards, and I lose it.

"Jack! Jack it was horrible! I saw myself! I saw myself taunting me, I was teasing and bullying myself! My faults, everything that's wrong with me, I know it all! I know exactly what's wrong with me. I know," I scream, sobbing as I do so. "But now I don't care what other people might say, I'm not worth anything. I'm fat, I'm stupid, I'm nowhere near pretty, and I'm timid as a mouse hiding from a cat! I can't! And look! I'm cutting myself. I'm starving myself, only to binge and throw it all up later. You know that I'm not worth it, just leave me here. Let my drown myself in tears Jack." I don't even know what I'm saying anymore as I continue to scream and cry like a mad person. Although, I guess that's what I am.

I don't listen when Jack tries to tell me that I'm perfect the way I am and that I should stop what I'm doing to myself. I don't see when the man at the ticket booth gives me a disapproving shake of his head. I don't even feel when the doctor pulls the glass out of my body and sews me up like a doll. I don't notice anything because I'm too fixated on everything that makes be ugly, everything that adds up to the reason why I know I should no longer be here, on earth.

I know that every time I close my eyes, my mirrored selves will be there, ready to make even my dreams a living hell. I know that they won't quit just because I broke a few mirrors. I know that. I also know that I won't be able to stop being so… wrong and troubled about everything. But mostly, I know that I was right, _they_ were right.

* * *

**A/N: Ok so I actually do not like this one at all... I mean, the idea was okay but I completely butchered it with the writing... *sigh***

**Well, onto the results from the poll!  
Because my updating Harsh Words won with 61%, I will continue to write for this!  
However, a new Kickin' It story was next with 33% and I've started writing it and planning it out, (and thanks to some inspiring words from Kickfan23) I'll do that as well!  
THANK YOU TO EVERYONE THAT VOTED, THANKS SO MUCH ;D **

**WAH thanks so much for reading and thank you, thank you, THANK YOU for all your support and kind words!**


	24. Soul Mates

I look at my wrist, today is the day.

Three hours, thirty-six minutes, and thirteen seconds until I meet my soul mate.

_Today is the day._

* * *

I get dressed and make my way to my favorite restaurant; ready to meet the person I'm going to spend the rest of my life with. At least, I think I'm ready.

Twelve minutes and forty-one seconds.

* * *

_Forty-five seconds left. _

My palms grow sweaty and I'm suddenly extremely nervous.

What if I don't like him? What if he doesn't like me? What if this is a mistake?

Of course I'll like him. Of course he'll like me. This is not a mistake. What are you thinking Kim Crawford; this is your _soul mate_ you're meeting.

* * *

I look around, nobody seems to be approaching. With fifteen seconds left this is quite alarming. Could it be that I'm one of the few that doesn't get to spend the rest of their days with someone they love?

Come on, somebody. Anybody, please.

* * *

_Five seconds._

My heart is beating too fast, I feel as if I'm about to faint.

_Four._

I wipe my hands on my dress, desperately trying to rid myself of my embarrassingly clammy fingers.

_Three._

I don't see anybody. I'm about to cry.

_Two._

I'm holding my breath. I can't do this anymore.

_One._

My heart falls.

* * *

_00:00.00_

I let out my breath and slump down into the seat next to me, the people around me giving me sympathetic looks.

They pretend to know what it's like to feel this alone, even though they have their special someone sitting _right in front of them_.

Someone taps my shoulder, and I lift my teary-eyed gaze to the fresh face of a young man who smiles apologetically down at me.

"I'm sorry I'm late, I got lost. But when my timer got stuck on one second, I knew you were close," he says, reaching out to shake my hand. "Oh, I haven't introduced myself yet,"

"_My name is Brody Carlson."_

* * *

**A/N: HAHA I bet some of you thought it'd be Jack. Psych! It's _Brody_. **

**So I've posted the first chapter of Seaford Boys School (just about forever ago, I feel guilty for not writing the next chapter yet...), please check it out (/s/9176126/1/Seaford-Boys-School) and tell me what you think, it'd definitely mean a lot!**

**So I got the idea of this from something I saw on Tumblr that said _"If a clock could count down to the moment you meet your soul mate, would you want to know?" _and I was all, OMG THIS MUST BE WRITTEN. So yeah, that's the inspiration for this one! ((Sorry it's so short!))**

**As always, thanks so much for reading!**


	25. Hakuna Matata

Kim sighed as she looked at the kitten-a-month calendar that hung on her wall, the very same calendar that read 'September 2013' beneath an adorable kitten sleeping in a teacup. The very same calendar whose boxes for the days were all filled up with her hectic, over-the-top schedule. After all, September was always the busiest month for those seniors applying to colleges, and this did not exclude Kim Crawford.

She looked at the box for the fifth, red marker words printed neatly to maximize the space. Help in the cafeteria before school, library volunteer during second and third period, after lunch cleanup, National Honors Society meeting after school, cheer after that, karate until ten, then get home to work on finishing those darn application essays. It all looked good on college applications, and Kim was determined to get into Boston University.

Glancing at the clock that read 8:15 on her extremely messy desk, she winced at the realization that if she didn't hurry up, she'd be late for school and miss her cafeteria volunteering on top of that. She huffed and swung her legs over the edge of the bed and just lay there for a few more minutes before she decided she'd done enough stalling.

Hauling herself off the bed and to the dresser, she settled for light jeans and one of Jack's sweatshirts that she had somehow accumulated in her wardrobe. But hey, she wasn't complaining, they were comfortable and they were his. Besides, Jack didn't seem to miss them; he just smiled when she wore them.

She piled her hair on the top of her head in a messy bun and skipped makeup altogether. She laced up her boots and set off down the stairs, the long hours of her schedule starting to take a toll on her body. The all-nighters, skipped meals, and the stress of college applications were making her tired, cranky, and off-balance. She was tightly wound and barely got to spend time with her friends aside from karate practice where she stumbled around trying to stay focused and alert. The guys either hadn't noticed her current condition, or just refused to acknowledge it.

When she reached the kitchen, she saw a bagel next to a glass of orange juice and a note from her mother to remember to eat breakfast. Shaking her head she chugged the juice, crumpled the note, and threw it along with the bagel in the garbage. She hated wasting food but she just wasn't in the mood for breakfast and she was so going to be late.

She sprinted to the car and stuck the key in the ignition, waiting for the engine to roar to life. Except it didn't.

"Crap, crap, crap!" she whispered, annoyed at her car for choosing today of all days to not turn on and annoyed at the world for making her life so hard to keep in order. She sighed again before grabbing her skateboard and setting off for school, only to fall, rip her jeans, and skin her knees.

"Are you kidding me?" she growled, picking herself off the floor and examining her knees. Just then, a car pulled up and rolled down the window, a familiar voice cutting through the Seaford early morning silence.

"Need a ride Kim?" Jack asked, looking at her with a worried expression. "Are you okay? What happened?" he got out of his truck and ushered her into the passenger seat, trying to get a better look at her bloodied shins.

"I'm fine Jack, just get me to school," she said quickly, pulling down the visor mirror and instantly regretting not wearing makeup. She had dark circles under her clouded hazel eyes, red spots where she had picked at pimples, and there was a tired yet stressed look about her that screamed 'I need a break from life.'

"Are you sure you're fine? I mean you've been acting really weird lately and your schedule is mega packed," Jack said quietly, looking at her from the driver's seat. "You really should slow down, maybe take a break or something."

Kim gave him a look, "I'm fine Jack. Don't worry about me, I'm just a bit tired is all." She shut the mirror and snapped, "Just drive already, I'm going to miss the thing at the cafeteria."

"Nope," Jack said, making a U-turn and driving in the complete opposite direction of the school.

Kim looked at him and then out the window and then back at him, "Jack what the hell are you doing turn around!" Jack just smiled and kept driving, barely acknowledging her protests. "Jack! Turn this car right now!"

When she saw that there was no way of him turning back to the school she tried opening the door, "Then let me out! I _have_ to get to school. I'd rather walk, let me out god damnit!" She pushed and pulled at the door but it wouldn't open.

"What the hell Kim, that's dangerous! Stop, you could get hurt!" Jack yelled, checking to make sure that the door was locked before he reached over and grabbed her hand. "Just calm down already, you're not going to school today."

"But Jack-" she started.

"Or NHS."

"But can I-"

"Or cheerleading. Or karate. Nothing today Kim, you're relaxing, taking a break, slowing down, hakuna matata," Jack said sternly, glancing at her quickly before turning back to the road.

"Then can you at least tell me where you're taking me, Timon," Kim asked, defeated yet with a sarcastic sting.

"Very funny," Jack said with a smile, "but it's a surprise. But you'll see when we get there." Kim rolled her eyes and looked out the window, trying to get some sort of clue as to where they were going, her mind wandering back and forth from her current situation, the unfinished essays, and her stinging knees.

"There's tissues and Band-Aids in the glove compartment by the way," Jack said as if reading her mind. She reached into the glove compartment and began to wipe away the blood and stick the Band-Aids to her skin. By the time she was done, the car had stopped and they had reached their destination.

"The boardwalk? Are you kidding Jack?" Kim asked in disbelief and disappointment. "The water's cold, nobody is here, and I have work to do! I can't be goofing around with you when there's so much I have to get done!" she crossed her arms and sat back in her seat, demanding to be driven back to school, no matter how late she would be.

Jack just shook his head and unbuckled her seatbelt, plucking her out of the car and carrying her to the farthest end of the boardwalk, the edge that gave to the sea and doubled as a dock for boats.

"Jack what's your problem, I said take me back!" Kim yelled, pounding on his chest and squirming around. He plopped her on the wood, and untied her shoes, throwing them behind him. He rolled up her jeans to her mid-calf and swung her legs around, where they landed with a splash in the water and Kim shrieked.

"It's cold! It's so cold oh my gosh!" she screamed, pulling her legs back and curling up in her sweatshirt.

"Come on Kim, stop being such a baby," Jack said as he untied his shoes and put his own feet in the water. "Holy mother of all that is good that is freezing!" he said, recoiling and scuttling backwards from the edge of the dock.

This got a laugh from Kim, "Not such a tough guy now, are you?" Jack gave her a menacing look and before she could even think twice, she was drenched from head to toe in ice-cold salt water.

"You did not," Kim said, the smile all but vanished from her face.

"Oh I think I did," Jack said with a playful smile, hands dripping from splashing her.

"You probably shouldn't have done that," she said, using his own line against him as she splashed him back, the smile returning to her face. Before she knew it, they were involved in an all-out splash war, water was flying and they were both soaking wet and laughing too hard to breathe. They flopped back on the wooden planks of the boardwalk/dock to regain their breath, and Kim started to shiver.

"Kim, we should get you dry," Jack said, pulling her towards him to share his body heat with her. "I know the perfect place to go." They pulled on their shoes, which squeaked and squished on the way to their next destination, Talia Thompson's Treasures and Thrift.

"You're joking," Kim said as they walked up to the small shop. "I hate thrift shops!"

"Come on Kim, loosen up, they're awesome," Jack said as he pulled her into the store. They were welcomed by an older woman whom they guessed was Talia and they began their search, each trying on outfits they'd never in a million years consider to buy.

Jack came out of the dressing room sporting a Napoleonistic jacket, tight pants that Talia insisted were men's, and shoes that looked like they belonged to a leprechaun as Kim sat waiting for him in a Renaissance-inspired dress, complete with bloomers and a hoop-skirt, gaudy jewelry, and laced up boot-heels. One look at each other and they burst out laughing, tears forming at the corners of their eyes and sides hurting.

"Would you like to dance, madam?" Jack said, bowing deeply and extending a hand.

"Why I'd love to, sire," Kim said with a curtsy as she took his hand and they began to dance around the store, twirling and leaping through the stacks of antiques and shelves of old books. At last they plopped onto a soft couch and caught their breath, before setting out to find clothes they'd actually buy.

Kim chose a long yellow dress and a red felt hat that hugged her head closely, taming her damp curls and letting them cascade down her back. Jack went with loose shorts and a simple V-neck, paying for both of their outfits after many protests from Kim.

"Have fun you two lovebirds!" called Talia as they left the store, their wet clothes in a large tote bag that Talia had let them have, free of charge. They both blushed at the term 'lovebirds', but neither tried to correct her.

"Where to nex-" Jack was cut off by the sound of Kim's stomach rumbling, and he instantly knew where to take her.

"I'm going to take you to eat somewhere, but you can't judge it by the name and locale okay?" Jack asked, taking her hand and leading her down the boardwalk and to the beach.

"O-okay?" she said, uncertainly as Jack pulled her along to a dingy looking place called The Drowned Mermaid. The run-down shack had holes all over the wooden walls and the mermaid that carried the sign looked as if she really had been drowned and decayed.

Kim shuddered, "Are you sure you want to eat here?" Jack pulled her through the double doors and into the dark building, where they both got a whiff of something amazing.

"Table for two Gus?" Jack asked the man behind the counter who seemed to be cooking something from a horror movie. The man had only one hand, and he was using the stump to hold down the food. Kim wrinkled her nose and looked at Jack, who winked at her.

"Anywhere you like Jack, Gary'll be right with ya," Gus said, motioning around the empty shack with his stump.

Jack nodded and grabbed Kim's hand to lead her away from the counter, "Thanks Gus. By the way, this is my friend Kim, it's her first time here." Kim gave a thin smile as Gus held out his hand for her to shake.

"Nice to meet ya little lady," Gus said with a warm smile as he gave her the heartiest handshake she had ever experienced.

"Same to you, sir," Kim said politely. Gus retracted his hand and placed it over his heart as if he had been hurt and feigned pain.

"Please, little lady, call me Gus. Don't have to be so polite around here," he said. Kim nodded uncertainly and she and Jack went to go find a table, which wasn't really too difficult seeing as they were the only two people there on a Thursday afternoon.

"Jack, my man!" came a voice from behind them as Jack pulled out Kim's chair for her. They both turned to see a tall lanky boy with an apron and a shirt that read, 'I Didn't Drown the Mermaid' in dark blue lettering. He seemed to be around college age yet he looked like he knew Jack pretty well.

"Hey Gary, long time no see!" Jack exclaimed as he went to hug the boy. "This is my best friend Kim," he said as he turned back to her, grasping her hand once more.

"Looks like you're a bit more than best friends but I'm not here to judge. What'll it be?" Gary asked, eyeing them as he handed them menus.

Jack just looked at him and said, "The usual for me and the same for Kim please." Kim shot him a look as Gary nodded and trotted away to take the order to Gus. "What?"

"What's the usual Jack? How do you know I'll like it?" Kim asked, flashing him her best 'I'll murder you if I don't like it' face. Jack stifled a laugh and decided to roll with it.

"First, the usual is this fried fish and French fries, almost like fish and chips but they make it twenty times better here than any British person alive," Jack started enthusiastically, his mouth threatening to start watering. "And second, I know you'll like it because I know everything about you."

"Oh really?" Kim said with a smirk. "What's my favorite color?"

"Pink," Jack said as-a-matter-of-factly. "Come on Kim, make it a bit more challenging than that." He sat back and watched her as she scrunched her face and tried to think of a better question.

"What's my favorite animal? My biggest fear? Favorite thing to do?" Kim asked, eager to see if he really knew everything he claimed he did. "Favorite food?"

"You don't know your favorite animal, you're still between a kitten and a giraffe. Your biggest fear is having an asthma attack and not having your inhaler so you either die or pass out. Your favorite things to do are spend time with your friends and do karate. And your favorite food is fish and chips," Jack deadpanned; as if this were all just a review for a test they had in school.

"Impressive Brewer, but what would I do if there were ever a zombie apocalypse?" Kim asked, eyebrows raised. She was sure he'd get him there.

"Well, first you'd get away from your family because you always say you'd hate to go through something like that with your family. Then I suppose you'd get as many supplies as you can and hightail it out of there, probably running into me on your way out. Then we'd try to survive for a while before you start freaking out and decide that you've had enough and you'll kill yourself to get away from such a scary and impossible life. I'd follow soon after, not finding a reason to live without you next to me, and we'd meet up in the afterlife and talk about our lives before the zombies," Jack said with a small smile.

"Wow, you're good Jack…" Kim said, her voice trailing off at the end. "But I have one more question, who do I like?" Jack's eyes widened at the sudden question of her affections, not wanting to answer her in case he was wrong.

"Uh-" he started, getting cut off by Gary placing two baskets of fried fish and fries on the table. Saved by the waiter.

"Two orders of fried fish and potatoes, enjoy you two," Gary said with a smile. "And you forgot to order drinks so here's two iced teas, everyone likes iced tea." He set the two glasses down and turned to leave, but not before winking at Jack and shooting him a thumbs up.

"Ahaha, iced tea, who doesn't like iced tea?" Jack said quickly with a nervous chuckle, taking the opportunity to dodge the question.

"Uh, yeah. I guess…" Kim said quietly as she began to dig in. "Oh my god that's amazing, Jack it's delicious!" she exclaimed as she put the first bite in her mouth. The fish was crispy and seasoned to perfection and the potatoes were amazing.

"I knew you'd love it," Jack said, shoveling his food into his mouth. "I used to come here with my mom all the time, it was my dad's favorite restaurant in New York and when we found one here she kept the tradition of coming here every Saturday when we moved to Seaford. That is, until she started working those weird hours. Now I'm the only one that comes." Kim looked at him, his smile seemed to dim and his eyes clouded over.

She reached out and squeezed his hand, "I'll come with you from now on, and it'll be our place." Jack smiled and nodded before turning back to his food and Kim to hers. They joked around and laughed for the rest of the meal, reminiscing and planning future get-togethers. By the time Jack paid and they left, Kim hadn't thought once about her ever-growing list of things to do.

"Can we go to the actual beach next? I mean we've been on the boardwalk all day; I kind of want to feel the sand. You know, sand between the toes, salty breeze, the whole shebang," Kim said as they exited The Drowned Mermaid hand in hand.

"Sure, why not," Jack replied with a grin as they made their way down to the seaside and plopped down on the warm sand. After a few minutes, Jack got an idea, "Bury me," he said, laying down in the sand and grinning up at her.

"Huh? Are you sure? You'll get really sandy," Kim said uncertainly. When Jack nodded and pushed her to bury him, she gave in. "But if we're going to do this, we're doing it right," she said, pushing Jack softly to the side, "first we need to make a sort of hole for you to lay in." They both got to work on digging out a shallow trench and in no time Jack was in it and buried.

"Wait right here, don't move!" Kim said as she scurried to the shore.

"Not going anywhere!" Jack called out sarcastically as he watched her jump from the waves, holding the hem of her dress in one hand and various pieces of sea matter in the other. When she came back, he saw that she held seaweed, seashells, and sea grape.

"What's all that for?" he asked, wondering what she could possibly do with all of that. She just smiled and got to work, "You'll see."

When she finished, Kim ran to the bag and got her phone to take a picture, giggling at the sight of her friend in the sand.

"Okay, you can get out now," she said, still giggling like a schoolgirl. She watched as Jack broke through the pile of sand and seaweed that covered him and tried to dust himself off as best he could. Kim was still laughing at the picture when he took the phone from her hands and examined himself.

"Hey!" he exclaimed when he saw himself as a mermaid. Kim had shaped the sand over his legs as a tail and a women's body, placing the seaweed over his chest and the sea grape around his head to look like long, flowing hair. Shells decorated the mermaid body and it looked pretty good. Kim was doubled over in laughter at his expression and she was almost crying. Jack checked the time and saw that somehow it was almost time for the sun to go down.

He ran up to her and picked her up, twirling her around and yelling, "You think that's funny? You think I'm funny? Huh?"

Kim shrieked, "Oh my god Jack! Put me down!" But Jack didn't put her down; he kept spinning her around and around until he got too dizzy and they both tumbled to the ground, collapsing in a fit of laughs and giggles.

"L-look, Jack!" Kim said, trying to regain her composure as she pointed to the horizon and a beautiful orange sky. The world was still spinning as Jack looked up and pulled Kim close to him, resting her head on his shoulder and looking out on the horizon. He held her hands and she didn't pull them back, and they sat there together, forgetting about the rest of the world. That is, until Kim's phone erupted in the chorus to 'Thank You' by MKTO. Her mother was calling.

"H-hello?" she spoke into the phone.

"_Kimberly Ann Crawford where the hell are you?"_ yelled her mother into the phone. _"I got a call from the school saying you never showed up and I thought 'That can't be my Kim' but it turns out you were never at school. Explain yourself!" _

"Mom, calm down I was with Jack," Kim said, heart pounding at the amount of trouble she was surely in.

"_And you think that makes it okay? I was worried sick about you the moment the school called! I know Jack is a nice and cute boy and that you like him very much, but that doesn't excuse you for disappearing without telling anyone and skipping school!" _Kim's mom scolded.

"Mom! Jack can hear you please be quiet!" Kim whispered into the phone, hoping that Jack didn't hear the bit about her liking him so much. "I'm sorry, I'll get home soon."

"_You'd better be home soon missy, as soon as you walk through that door you're grounded for a month. No phone, no friends, nothing at all for a month because of this. Do you understand?" _Kim winced at the tone of her mother's voice, knowing full well she meant what she said.

"Yes mom," she deadpanned, her mood instantly sour. She knew she shouldn't have gone with Jack today. She knew how many things she had to do. She knew the responsibilities she had, and she knew she shouldn't have shirked on them. The day had been fun while it lasted but now she just needed to get as much done tonight as she could. She had been wasting precious time goofing off with Jack and she'd have to pay it all off eventually.

"Take me home Jack," she said as she stood up and hung up the phone. She didn't even wait for him to say anything or get up; she just collected the bag with their clothes and started up the beach to where they had parked.

"W-wait! Kim, hold on. What happened?" Jack asked, hurrying to brush off the sand that clung to him and catch up.

"Nothing, I just shouldn't have come here with you today. Take me home now," Kim said quietly, tears that she wouldn't let fall pricking at the corners of her eyes. She kept walking, faster now, and tried to pick her way through the sand and rocks, tripping and falling on the way.

"God damnit!" she yelled, she had almost twisted her ankle and she fell on her knees again. Jack ran to help her up, but she waved him away and got up again by herself.

"Kim, I'm sorry," Jack started, trying to find something to say. He knew she had had fun and so had he, but just having fun wouldn't make anything better.

"Stop," she said, holding up a hand and silencing him. "It's my fault, not yours. I just want to go home and get back to work. Now." He looked at her and sighed, continuing on to the car where he drove her to her house in a painfully awkward silence. When they finally reached her house, she hopped out of the car without a word and started to her door before turning and saying something.

"Thanks for trying today Jack," she said almost too quietly for him to hear from the driver's seat. "Thanks for distracting me from my life for today, but it ended up doing more harm than good. I'll uh, wash your clothes or something. See you tomorrow." She gave him a small smile and a tiny wave and disappeared in her house. Before she closed the door Jack could hear her mother coming to scold her again for leaving without telling anyone and for not getting anything done today. He instantly felt responsible, guilty for being so selfish as to take her away from her pre-college work and guilty for getting her in so much trouble.

He was about to get out of his car and defend her in front of her mom, but he just shook his head and started the engine again, driving off down the road deep in thought.

So much for hakuna matata.

* * *

**A/N: Hey there everyone! Long time no see eh? Sorry about that! So to make up for that I wrote you and extra long(er) one, 4000+ words! Proud of myself because this took me three days to write ;) I hope you all like it and also HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY TO ALL YOUR MAMAS! :***

_**By the way, if you'd like to see the outfits I imagined them wearing, go to and put these after it: /cgi/set?id=81980666 and /kim_jack_joint_outfit_hakuna/set?id=81980411**_

**Thanks for reading!**

**~Hakuna Matata~**

_**(By the way, sorry for not updating on Seaford Boys' School, I'm working on it...) **_

_**((Also, wish me luck on me EOC tomorrow because I need it, I SUCK at math...))**_


	26. Welcome Home

"_Hey Kimmy."_

My eyes narrowed, "Who is this and why are you calling me Kimmy. Do you want to get hurt?" I heard a chuckle from the other side and whoever it was seemed pretty happy.

"_Already forgotten the sound of my voice, Kimmy? That hurts,"_ the voice said. It was screaming familiarity but I just couldn't put my finger on who it was. _"Come on then, say something! Or is it that you're not excited for me to come back from Japan?" _

"J-Japan? Wait, Jack?" I whispered, needing it to be him. But his voice, how- when did it get so deep? Had he grown up as much as everybody else? Of course Kim, what were you thinking?

"_Yes Kimmy, it's me. Did you seriously forget what I sounded like?" _he said, and I started grinning like a fool.

"J-Jack! When are y-you getting h-h-home? W-when can I see you?" I yelled into the phone, tears streaming down my face. I was beyond excited to see him again, and my heart had been aching for the better part of four years. Jack was finally home.

"_Actually, I was hoping that you could come get me from the airport? Seems my mom forgot today was the big day…"_ he said into the phone, and I could just see him rubbing the back of his neck as he did. _"And please don't cry, even if they're tears of joy. I don't want my first sight of you in four years to be ruined by your makeup running everywhere."_

"Okay, n-now you're just asking for a black eye," I said with a smile. "Welcome home, Jack."

"_Glad to be back,"_ he whispered, saying goodbye before he hung up and asking me to be there in an hour. I gladly agreed and once I had hit the 'end call' button, I let out a loud scream. I started to run around my room and jump for joy, Jack was finally back, after all this time!

I darted to my bed and reached under my pillow, taking out a worn sheet of paper, its creases almost to the point of ripping from folding and unfolding it so many times. I looked at the familiar script, messy and boyish, that of a fourteen year old really, the pen marks blurred and watered down from the tears of reading it the first time, the last time, and every time in between.

I unfolded the letter once more, a photo strip that we shared falling out in the process. I picked it up and smiled at out expressions, my face as he gave me the wet-willy and his as I punched him in the eye. Served him right. I started to read the letter for what seemed like the millionth time, but then again, it probably was.

_Dear Kim (Kimmy, Kiwi, Kimbo, my best friend),_

_ So many things are running through my mind right now that I can't even begin to process it all. I mean, the Otai academy, __the school__ for martial artists like me, is asking me to be a student there! I'll get to learn from the best of the best, and I'll become a great martial artist, not to mention the waffle maker in the cafeteria. :) The only downside is leaving the dojo, and leaving you. _

_ I've had such a great time here in Seaford with the whole gang, and I've made friends I'll have for life. I even fell in love here in the smallest town in California, and I hope she'll wait for me to get back home. Now I know you probably don't care that I've found a girl, but hear me out. She's the greatest friend I've ever had, she's beautiful, she's a hell of a fighter, and she stole my heart on day one. You want to know the best part?_

_She's you._

_I know, great way to tell a girl you love her right? In a letter when you're leaving for the other side of the world. The thing is, I didn't know how to tell you before this, and even having you read this as I'm on my way to Japan is freaking me out. I'm sorry, sorry for not telling you how I felt before, sorry for ever hurting you, sorry for leaving, sorry for coming back four years later, expecting everything to be okay. I know that's not okay and saying sorry isn't going to change that, but I can't just pass an opportunity like this up. I mean it's the __Otai Academy__. _

_Asking you to be happy for me is really selfish of me, but I know you'll at least pretend to be happy for my sake. That's you, always watching out for me and caring about other people more than your own happiness. I'm going to miss everything about Seaford, everything about the dojo, everything about you. I'll miss the hot muggy days, the beach trips, and the first days of school. I'll miss the competitions, the crazy adventures, and even the smelly mats Rudy was too stingy to ever clean. I'll miss your smile, they way you got so passionate about not being just another pretty face, the almost dates we've had, your horrible dancing skills, and I'll especially miss having you next to me. Going to Japan is really going to change my life. _

_Writing this, I'm remembering that time we taught Rudy how to skateboard. You remember? That day we took Rudy to the skate park and he almost broke his arm and a few other important body parts when he accidentally did that crazy trick that had everybody there staring with their mouths open like goldfish. And that time we helped Eddie on that Indiana Jones adventure? That was great. I'll never forget China either, how you helped me out of my funk of not being able to compete, and finally facing Kai. The cotillion is still fresh in my mind too, I can't believe I was such a jerk to you when you asked me to go. Believe me, I would've gone with you as your date if I had been fully aware of how much I like you. _

_And you know what? Apples will always be my favorite fruit because of that day in the cafeteria. I had just walked in, the new kid again with those crazy butterflies in my stomach and then I saw you. Actually, that's a lie. I saw your apple. After I caught it and I saw your smile, I knew I was a goner. And just like that my "new kid fears" were gone, and I was best friends with the greatest people ever._

_These two years in Seaford with you and the gang have been the best years of my life, and I'm sad to go but I feel like I have to. If I don't, I'll never have another opportunity like this again and my martial arts won't get as good as it could be. Thanks for being my friend, my secret keeper, my personal cheerleader, and my first crush. I'll miss you a lot but I promise I'll call, email, and IM whenever I can, it'll be just like you're there with me. Promise you won't forget me, because I know I won't ever be able to forget you. _

_Love always, _

_Jackrabbit_

Over the many times I'd read it before, I always found something knew to smile about, some old memory would resurface and I'd be grinning and sobbing at the same time. I gingerly refolded it and slipped it in my pocket, checking the time before I grabbed my keys and bounded out the door, unable to wait a single moment more to see my Jack. I drove as fast as the speed limit would let me and parked across the street from the airport, gleeful and shaking with excitement.

Sure, the last four years there in Seaford had been fine, finishing high school with the gang and starting my freshman year in Seaford University. And of course there had been some hardships, dealing with Jack's leaving, getting rejected by Boston University, and breaking up the gang until only Jerry and I remained. Eddie moved away right after Jack did, his father had gotten a job in Miami and he and his mom went with him to stay together as a family, and we just lost touch. When the rest of us graduated from Seaford High, Milton decided to go to Cornell University off in New York, but he would come home for vacations and we were still relatively close. That said, Jerry and I were the only ones left, both attending Seaford U and holding jobs in Reptile World and the dojo respectively. We shared an apartment close to our school and were closer than ever, both severely damaged by Jack's leaving but neither one making a move on the other. It was a special friendship, but neither one took it farther than that.

I sent Jerry a quick message before I got out of the car:

**Jer, I have a surprise for u. come home soon.**

_**What?**_

**Just get home!**

_**Kk mamacita, w/e u say.**_

I smiled and bounded out of the car, getting to the crosswalk and jabbing the button as fast as I could, thinking that maybe it'd make the light change faster. That's when I caught sight of him.

I could see Jack; he was standing there across the street, surrounded by people yet somehow still managing to look only at me. Suddenly my eyes filled with tears and my vision blurred, Jack turning into a tan lump in my eyes.

I started to cross the street blindly, my excitement getting the better of me and I wasn't even sure if the crosswalk had changed. I thought I'd make it just fine, I had before.

I could already feel his arms wrapping around me, holding me close and tight in his warm embrace. I could hear him calling my name, his voice cracking with happiness.

Wait.

_He was calling my name. _

"Kim! KIM!" he yelled. I quickly wiped my eyes and saw him, anguished with tears running down his cheeks. I didn't understand why he was so scared; I was already halfway across the street.

So it's a shame really that I didn't see that truck.

"KIM!"

* * *

**A/N: "Kimmy got run over by a freight truck..." aha sorry about the ending, I just couldn't help myself! SO I hope you guys liked the story and Jack's letter to Kim, I might make a companion chapter from Jack's point of view and I'll definitely include Kim's letter and make it way longer, but just tell me what you think in a review. (Thanks by the way for all the reviews, almost 300! That's crazy.) **

**Also, I don't enjoy addressing hate comments, but I'd kind of like to let them know that I actually read it and that it affected me in some way. So here goes: **

**Guest said- "Ypur stories suck! Way to depressing and they r not at all like this. I hope u get bannedfrom fanfiction because u do not desrerve to write it u depressing person. U r a discrase"**

**First off, I'd like to suggest that you please spellcheck your hate messages before you send them, so people can properly read what you're trying to say. Hate or not you're still trying to get a point across and you really should be clearer about it.  
Second, If you don't like what I write, I'm sorry honey but that's your problem. I assure you that _some _people like them, judging by the amount of beautiful readers that I'm blessed to have. There are people that agree with you, and I'm not smothering your opinion, I'm just casually asking you to keep your mean comments to yourself. Like my mother taught me "If you have nothing nice to say, don't say it at all."  
Lastly, if I were to somehow get banned from FF, that won't stop me from writing the way I do. I can easily find somewhere else to share my stories or just write them for the pure enjoyment of doing so.  
So I'm sorry that you didn't like my style of writing and I appreciate your input, but I ask that next time you review with an account so I can reply to you one-on-one like I do to as many other reviewers as I can. Thank you.**

**Phew, sorry for that guys... Anyway, thanks for reading, reviewing, and favoriting/following! I'm super happy with the crazy amounts of followers I've gained recently, so thank you so much! I love you guys! **


	27. Welcome Home Part 2

I crossed off May 17 on my calendar, marking my last day in Japan as a student of the Otai Academy. I smiled, '_it's really been four years,'_ I thought as I tore it off my wall and stuffed it into a suitcase at random.

_Today's the day. _

I looked around the empty dorm I had been sharing with my Japanese roommate Taichi for the last four years. He had moved out yesterday, eager to get home to his family in Matsudo, Chiba. I couldn't blame him either, by the stories he told, he was really close with his little brother and twin sister and he missed them dearly.

My time at the Otai Academy had been amazing, I had learned so much and I'd become I third degree black belt and was well on my way to earning my fourth degree black belt. I'd been through tough training and extremely early mornings, but I knew that if I didn't try as hard as I possibly could that my leaving Seaford would've been for nothing.

_There it is again._

Every time I thought about Seaford, the guys, Kim, even Rudy, I got a pang of sadness in the pit of my stomach. I'd always question whether I made the right choice in coming all the way across the world to Japan to study martial arts.

I shook my head, best choice or not, I would be home in a matter of days and I'd be able to reconnect with the gang back at the dojo and show Rudy how much I'd progressed. I smiled before remembering that I still hadn't grabbed the most important thing to me since I left, Kim's letter.

I stepped to the far corner of the room and lifted up the wallpaper connecting with the floor to reveal a small hole with a slightly rumpled envelope in it. I'd decided to hide the letter because on my first week there, Taichi had tried to snatch the letter and read it himself. I'd almost beat him up to get it back and since then I knew I had to hide it and keep it away from him. But that didn't stop me from reading it every day, multiple times a day.

I tucked it safely in my pocket and repositioned the wallpaper, then back standing in the middle of the room to take one last glance around the place that I had called "home" for the last four years of my life. It was a drab little room with barely enough space for the two beds and two tiny desks it contained. The walls were a tan color with thin vertical lines running up and down the wallpaper, the whole room just screamed boring and the only thing that made my side bearable were the pictures I had put up of everyone. Those however, were long gone, packed away safely in one of many suitcases that sat next to the door and were ready to go.

"Well, goodbye Otai," I said with a small smile as I grabbed my bags and exited the dorm and eventually the campus where I had been learning all the martial arts that I could. There was a taxi waiting for me in front of the immense wooden gates that marked the entrance of the Otai Academy and the fight song popped into my head.

_Otai gaku EEEHHH. Great, now it's stuck in my head. _

And so I left Otai, excited to go home to Seaford, nervous to see everyone again, and frankly a little relieved to be leaving. Sure, Otai was a great school and every martial arts student's dream, but it was nice to take a breather and just relax for a while.

* * *

I sat back in my airplane seat, looking out the window as Japan became smaller and smaller, eventually getting covered by clouds until all I could see were puffs of white through the tiny window. I reached in my pocket to take out my MP3 player, but encountered a familiar envelope. I pulled it out and smiled, opening the envelope to read the letter for about the tenth time that day.

_Dear Jackrabbit,_

_ Wow, so you're going to Japan… I can't say I'm completely happy that you're leaving though. I mean, it's great and all that you've been offered a scholarship to the Otai Academy (whose fight song is really catchy by the way) and I can't blame you for taking it (I would've done it too,) but just the fact that you're leaving for four whole years really makes me sad. By the time you get back, we'll all be in college and what we have in our dojo most likely won't be there anymore. I'm not saying that you shouldn't have taken the opportunity because it's great that they chose you of all people to go, I'm just going to miss you a lot. _

_ So now that I've gotten the Otai out of the way, there's a few things I'd like you to know. Firstly, you are my best friend in the world. I'm super glad that we've had a chance to become so close in the past two years and I trust you with my secrets and my life, and that's not something I trust just anyone with. Second, I'm really proud of you. I've seen you grow up so much and your martial arts skills have improved so much since we joined the Bobby Wasabi dojo together (and might I add that joining with you was the best decision I could've made.) Another thing, we've made so many memories that I'm never going to forget here in Seaford, it's a shame you're leaving it. If you forget any of them, you're just looking to get beaten up by me. Just saying. Aside from our friendship, I'm also in love with you. _

_ Yeah I know what you're thinking, "Great job Kim, telling me you love me as I'm on a plane to Japan." See the thing is, I'm writing this because I'm not good at goodbyes or showing my feelings like every other girl in Seaford. And seeing as you leaving involved both, I just kind of freaked out and didn't know what to do. I knew if I told you that you'd have second thoughts about leaving and you might even feel guilty about leaving me behind, so let me just say that you made the right choice when it comes to your karate, you would've had to be an idiot to say no. So don't feel guilty, it's my fault for falling in love with you and never telling you until now. _

_ That said, there's a lot of things I'll miss about you. I'll miss the times we had at the beach, your smile, your incurable hero-complex, that contagious laugh of yours, I'll miss going on adventures with you, seeing you at the dojo every day, I'll miss having your shoulder to cry on, your voice to calm me down, your horrible jokes to make me laugh until I cry, everything. I just got really mushy and emotional but I can't help it, I'm really going to miss everything about you. _

_ I really hope you have the time of your life in Japan and learn everything you can so when you come home, you can teach me everything they taught you when you were across the world. Don't forget me, us, the dojo, or a single moment of the time you were here in Seaford, because I'll be waiting with my hands curled up into fists if you do. Please call me, text me, IM me, anything, I really want to stay in touch!_

_Be strong and I love you_

_ Yours always, _

_ Kim _

_ (Kiwi)_

I reached up to rub my eyes, finding that for the first time in four years, I was crying. No, I was not _bawling_, but I was tearing up because of a letter that I'd read hundreds of times before. I blamed the altitude, but I knew it was because I was finally coming home.

I re-read the last paragraph, stopping guiltily on the part where she asked me to keep in touch. We had tried for about the first three weeks, but because of our schedules and the time differences, we stopped trying to call and text each other, finding it too hard to find a time where both of us were free and when it wasn't three in the morning in either place. We tried sending letters too, but the mail always seemed to lose them and we never received anything from the other. Eventually we just stopped trying, agreeing to still be friends from far away even though we weren't talking.

I just hoped it actually happened.

I pulled out my MP3 player and put in my earbuds, leaning back in my seat to get comfortable because I knew it would be a long flight back home to everyone. I nodded off to Garden by Johnny Ripper, a song that both Kim and I had fallen in love with the moment she played it for the first time.

* * *

Once the plane landed and I went through to baggage claim, I pulled out my phone and dialed my mom's number, ready to ask her to pick me up from the airport so I could take a shower then track down my old friends. The phone rang a few times, but when she didn't pick up, I knew she had forgotten that it was the day her only son came home from the other side of the world. No biggie, I could get anybody else to come get me.

I dialed a number I knew by heart and waited anxiously for the person on the other end to pick up.

"_Hello?" _came the voice of an old friend.

"Hey Kimmy," I said, my face breaking into a smile at the sound of her voice for the first time in what felt like forever.

"_Who is this and why are you calling me Kimmy. Do you want to get hurt?" _Kim said, and I imagined her with her eyes narrowed like she always did when someone called her Kimmy. I laughed at the thought, memories flooding back into my head.

"Already forgotten the sound of my voice, Kimmy? That hurts," I said with a grin, trying not to laugh again. "Come on then, say something! Or is it that you're not excited for me to come back from Japan?" I asked, suddenly realizing that she legitimately did not know who I was. Kim rarely checked the caller ID before I left; it was good to know that old habits die hard.

"_J-Japan? Wait, Jack?" _she whispered into the phone, almost sounding like she didn't believe me.

"Yes Kimmy, it's me. Did you seriously forget what I sounded like?" I asked in disbelief. Geez, you think you'd remember the voice of your own best friend.

"_J-Jack! When are y-you getting h-h-home? W-when can I see you?" _she shrieked, she sounded like she was crying too. Huh, crying from excitement? That's a first for Kim.

"Actually, I was hoping that you could come get me from the airport? Seems my mom forgot today was the big day…" I said sheepishly, rubbing the back of my neck like I do when I get nervous or embarrassed. "And please don't cry, even if they're tears of joy. I don't want my first sight of you in four years to be ruined by your makeup running everywhere." I chuckled again, imagining her with black makeup running down her face and her hair sticking up everywhere. Funny, she still looked beautiful.

"_Okay, n-now you're just asking for a black eye,"_ she deadpanned; there's the Kim I know. "_Welcome home, Jack."_

"Glad to be back," I whispered, heart fluttering for some reason at those words. "I'd love it if you could be here in like an hour, thanks a bunch Kim. Bye, see you soon." I ended the call and stuffed my phone back in my pocket, grinning like an idiot and heart racing from excitement. I was finally home.

* * *

An hour and fifteen minutes later, I was standing outside the entrance of Seaford International, scanning the crowd for one familiar face. Suddenly I saw her, beautiful as always, sitting in her car sending a message on her phone. She got out of the car and made her way to the sidewalk quickly, hitting the crosswalk button rapidly. I smiled, it looked like she was just as excited to see me as I was to see her. She looked up across the street and finally saw me, and I could just faintly make out tears rolling down her tan cheeks from where I stood. She started crossing the street.

My eyes widened, the light was still green for the cars to go and the crosswalk light hadn't changed. Then I saw a huge truck, like a moving van almost, coming down the street.

"Kim!" I yelled, trying to get her attention and to make her turn back. "Kim!" I screamed again, anguished tears staining my face and landing on my jacket. She didn't hear me. I called again, this time louder, and she finally stopped to wipe her eyes and focused on me.

But it was too late.

The truck rammed right into her, causing her to do a barrel roll over the top of the hood and collide with the glass of the windshield. The glass shattered on impact and she rolled off the truck and landed on the street with a loud thump and a sharp _crack_. The truck skidded to a stop a few feet away and the crowd erupted in a chorus of screams and shouts, calling for someone to check and see if the girl was okay.

"KIM!" I screamed, dropping my bags and sprinting to her motionless body. I reached her after what felt like eighty years and cradled her in my arms, limp, silent, and broken. Blood trickled down her face from the glass that had torn her skin and I could tell just by the amount of blood that she had cracked her skull near her forehead and that several of her limbs had snapped like branches.

"Someone! Call 9-1-1 now! Please, I need an ambulance here!" I screamed into the crowd surrounding us. The truck driver was the first to whip out his phone, and as he tried frantically to explain what had happened to the 9-1-1 dispatcher, he took off his jacket and handed it to me to cover her with. Within five minutes, an ambulance horn could be heard faintly and thirty seconds later it was pulling up alongside the truck and several medics hopped out, gurney in tow and yelling at the crowd to give them room.

"Please let her be okay, please let her be alive," I whispered to myself as they wheeled her into the ambulance and sped off, leaving me, the driver, and several other bystanders at the scene of the crime.

"Hey, I'm sorry. I didn't see your friend there," said the truck driver whose nametag said his name was Barry.

"It-it'll be fine. Thanks for the apology, er- Barry," I said stiffly, still looking in the direction that the ambulance had driven off in. "Call your insurance and tell them what happened, make sure somebody knows," I said as I scribbled my name, number, and address on the back of the envelope that used to contain Kim's letter, the real thing tucked safely in my back pocket. "Give them this and tell them I went to the hospital to see her. My name is Jackson Brewer, hers was- _is_ Kimberly Crawford. I'll call her mom on my way to the hospital; you just clear up the details on the accident. Don't let me see you drive away without calling someone." I looked to the ground and saw Kim's car keys and cracked iPhone, screen lit from a text.

Jerry had asked her when she would be home.

_What?_

I shook it off and sprinted to her car, forgetting about all my belongings and just focusing on getting to Kim and calling her mother. I drove off in the direction of the hospital, hoping, _praying_ that she was okay.

Wow, what a great welcome home.

* * *

**A/N: Here's part two of 'Welcome Home,' I hope you guys liked it! As requested I wrote this one and I'm getting started on the third and final installment of this, I guess, _series_. Thank you all for the kind words and numerous reviews, I've read every single one of the _OVER THREE HUNDRED _reviews you guys have left me and smiled, laughed, even teared up ****[a little] ****w****ith [a few] of the incredibly sweet and kind reviews. Thank you so much to everyone and here's a shoutout to my _300TH REVIEWER: _**

**Dont-Stop-Believin**

_**THANK YOU SO MUCH.**_

**So who knows, maybe Kim will end up okay, maybe not... _We'll see... _**

**__Thanks again for all the wonderful reviews, they make my day and I hope you liked this! See you guys next chapter! **


	28. Welcome Home Part 3

I shuffled through the seemingly endless papers that piled on my tiny receptionist's deck, searching for a specific item.

_Aha._

I'd found it, a coaster from the Blue Lagoon Bar, and on it, a phone number from a pretty hot guy I'd met last night over a few… dozen drinks. I thought, _'What the hell, nobody's around anyway,' _as I whipped out my phone and typed in the number, smacking my gum loudly. I put my ear to my cell and waited for it to ring.

Once.

Twice.

"Hello?" he said groggily, I guessed he still had a hangover from last night.

"Um hi, it's Jenna, from last-" I started to say, before I was cut off by the sound of sirens and sure enough, a group of medics barreled through the doors to the Emergency Room I worked at. They sped through the reception area and through the double doors into the inner hospital with a gurney that held the patient, a bloody blonde girl. I just stood there, caught off guard by the sudden rush of people and wondering what had happened.

As soon as I sat down and picked up my cell phone again, someone else came crashing through the doors, a young man that looked about nineteen with messy brown hair and tears running down his cheeks.

"Excuse me, but d-did a blonde girl pass through here?" he asked, his voice full of urgency.

"Well, if by 'passing through' you mean that she was wheeled in by medics on a gurney, then yes I did see a blonde girl pass through here. Actually, you just missed her," I said with a small smile. He let out a breath and wiped his face with his jacket sleeve, slumping down to the floor with relief.

"I need to see her," he said with a straight face. "I mean, if it's ok." I shook my head.

"I doubt it sweet cheeks, she looked pretty beaten up," I started. "I can call a nurse and see what's happening if you'd like." He nodded quickly and I hit a button on a panel that was attached to the wall behind my chair, signaling that I needed a nurse to come, although it wasn't an emergency.

Soon enough, Margaret came rushing in and I asked her about the girl's condition, "Well, by the once-over that the Doctor Light did, it appears that she has several broken bones, some bruised if not cracked ribs, and a severe crack in her skull that could quite possibly lead to some head trauma," she said quickly and professionally. "They're sending her in for X-rays and an MRI, if need be the doctor will perform any necessary procedures."

"When can she have visitors?" the boy asked.

"Not anytime soon, I'm afraid. She's severely hurt and there could be a number of things wrong with her aside from her skeleton. It could be days just as likely as it could be weeks, I just can't say for sure until Doctor Light gets a full analysis," she answered before turning to me. "Jenna, could you please get the girl's information, this boy seems to be close to her. While you're at it, be a dear and get his information too, he could be important."

"Yeah, ok," I huffed, picking up a clipboard and pen. As Margaret left, I motioned for the boy to sit in a real chair and not the floor, and began the paperwork that was required.

"Ok so first, I'll need both your names, her date of birth, and I'll need you to tell me exactly what happened," I said, clicking the pen and poising myself to fill out the boxes provided on the form.

"Well I'm Jackson Michael Brewer, but please, call me Jack," he started, running a hand through his hair. "Hers is Kimberly Ann Crawford, but she prefers to be called Kim. She was born on May 1st, 1993 and she's a Taurus. As to what happened…" he trailed off, as if it was too hard for him to say it.

"Go on," I said gently, waiting for him to continue.

"Well, I just got back from a four year scholarship at a school in Japan. My mom forgot today was the day I was coming home so I called Kim to get me from the airport," he said. "When she got out of the car and saw me, I guess she was happy to see me and she started to cry. She crossed the street without looking and as luck would have it, the light was still green and a truck ran her over. Or rather, she rolled over the truck and landed in the street with a loud crack and she was covered in glass and blood." He looked at his hands that were folded over his knees and he held his them so tight, that his knuckles were turning white.

"The truck just came so fast, she didn't hear it…" he said, his voice quivering. "I- I called her name to get her to turn around, but she didn't hear me until it was too late. I should've been louder, or I could've gone into the street to get her out of the way… In any case, it should've been me, not her."

"Oh, it's not your fault Jack. It could've happened to anyone and you _do not_ want it to happen to you," I said sternly yet kindly. I wanted to comfort this kid; he looked like he really liked this girl Kim. "You called the insurance people I suppose? Or at least gave the guy your info?"

He nodded, saying that he'd given the driver his name and number and told him to call his insurance company before driving off.

"You did the right thing kid," I said, looking back down at the paper. "Phone number? Address? Martial status? Insurance information?" I shot a string of questions, and he answered, not even skipping a beat.

"She's… I think she's single. And I don't know her insurance stuff," he said, raising a hand to his head and thinking hard. "No, she never told me. Why would she need to anyway?"

"It's fine," I said calmly. "Does she have any medical problems the doctor should be aware of? Any medications she's taking?"

"Oh, yes. Kim has asthma, she's had attacks before and she uses an inhaler. I think…" he trailed off, taking out his phone and scrolling through some pictures. "I have a picture of the label. You know, just in case." He chuckled nervously.

"Great, thanks," I said with a smile as I clicked the pen shut. "That's pretty much it, and if I need anything else, we'll call you." He got up quickly and grabbed my arm gently.

"Can… Can I stay here until I can see her?" he looked so scared, genuinely terrified for her. How could I say no?

"Alright, just… If anyone comes in you need to give him or her your seat immediately. Privileges of the sick and wounded and all that," I said as I pulled my arm away and went to input the information I'd gotten into the computer.

"Thanks," he said, letting out a huge breath as he slumped back into the chair he had been sitting in. I smiled and went to do my work, throwing the coaster into the garbage.

* * *

**JACK'S POV**

"_Please be okay, please be okay, please be ok. You have to be okay Kim. You have to be,"_ was all I was thinking as I sat there in the hospital's emergency care waiting center. I wasn't even supposed to be there, seeing as nothing was broken or bleeding, but I had to be there. For Kim. Suddenly, I was pulled from my thoughts at the feeling of Kim's iPhone vibrating in my pocket.

"_Huh, it still works," _I thought absentmindedly as I reached in my pocket to read the text. It was from Jerry. I unlocked the phone to find eleven messages from him.

**Hey Kim, I'm home**

** the aptmt. where r u?**

**is this about Jack?**

**Kim u OK?**

**KIM**

**I'm getting worried Kim : **

**What did u need 2 tell me**

**Srsly Kim talk 2 me**

**R u mad bc I didn't clean the bathroom**

**I'll do it when u get home. I promiz**

**Just talk 2 me**

Jerry seemed really worried, but what was this about an apartment? Were they going out, had they moved in together? Jerry knew how I felt about her, how could he do this to me?

I shook my head, no. This had to be a misunderstanding. I replied, just to let him know what was going on, and maybe then I'd be able to figure out what had happened between the two of them.

_**Jerry, this is Jack. I'm home. But Kim got run over by a truck, I'm the ER waiting for someone 2 say something. Get over here NOW.**_

**NO WAY. DUDE, UR BACK!**

_**Jer, Kim got run over by a TRUCK. I'm excite 2, but get over here. **_

**got it man. **

I smiled a bit, that was Jerry for you, confused but always happy. Unless of course your best friend and possible girlfriend gets run over by a large truck, then he becomes serious and maybe even a little smart. A little.

Twenty minutes later a sweaty Jerry burst through the glass doors to the emergency care room, breathing heavily and scanning the room for me.

"Jerry!" I called from my corner of the room. He spotted me and ran over, enveloping me in a hot, sweaty hug. Not a man hug either, a genuine hug from a best friend who missed his partner in crime. I hugged him back just as fiercely, because no matter what I said about Jerry, he'd always been there for me and I loved him like a brother, no, like my best friend Jerry, because that's what he was and continues to be.

He pulled away and clapped a hand on my shoulder, "Welcome home man, we missed you." I smiled and we did our handshake, still perfectly messed up since the last time we did it. "Man, we really gotta work on our handshake!" We both laughed and for a moment, forgetting why we were here. But that moment came and went, and we were both struck with the stony silence of the current situation.

"So uh, what happened?" he asked quickly, sitting down and wiping his forehead with the hem of his shirt.

"I had asked Kim to get me from the airport since my mom forgot I was flying in today, and she crossed the road without looking and got hit. Doctor says she has a crack in her skull and lots of broken bones. We can't see her yet, so I'm staying here until I can," I said solemnly. "Besides, it's not like I have anywhere to go." I smiled weakly and looked at him, he was staring down at the linoleum floor, and I could tell he was trying not to cry.

"Hey, buddy. It's fine," I said softly, trying to make him feel better.

"It's just that, she's been waiting for you," he said, lifting his head to look at me. "Every night she'd read your letter and cry, we both would. And since the group went their own separate ways, we were all each other had you know? We both got into Seaford U, sharing an apartment but she never moved on man. And now… The first time she sees you she gets run over by a fucking truck." He was angry now.

"It's not fair! Why the hell did it have to be her? She was counting down the days man, _crossing them off of her calendar_. She waited. And this is what she gets. Huh, some welcome home that is," he finished, slouching down in his chair, still fuming but not wanting to get kicked out of the ER for yelling.

I sighed, both in relief and frustration. He was right, it wasn't fair for it to happen to her, and hearing that she'd waited for me to come home like that made me feel slightly happier. He had also cleared up my confusion about them dating too, neither of them wanted to move on, Kim from her feelings and Jerry from his friendship. They were _just_ sharing an apartment. _Just_ trying to keep the group together.

"Wait, did you say that our group isn't like it was when I left?" I asked quickly. Jerry laughed.

"What did you expect man, that even though we'd lost our glue that we'd stay together?" he asked incredulously. "I mean we tried, until Eddy moved to Miami to be with his dad. And then it was just me, Kim, and Milton. But then Milton decided to go to Cornell all the way up in the big apple, and then there were two. When Kim got rejected from Boston, we just decided to go to Seaford U. We stayed together, waiting for you." His last sentence was barely audible, but I caught it.

"I didn't know that my leaving would cause you guys to break up, I'm sorry," I said, staring at my hands. "If I had known everything was going to change, I would've said no. Would've stayed here in Seaford with you guys."

"You didn't cause that though," he said. "Eddy still would've moved to Miami and Milton would've still picked New York over us. _Maybe_ Kim would've even gotten into Boston if she hadn't have been so depressed once you left. But I'd still be here, alone. If anything, leaving was better for you, for us." I stared at him, surprised at how much he had actually thought about this.

"It wasn't your fault-" he said, getting cut off by the nurse that I had talked to earlier came into the room and started to whisper with the receptionist. After a few moments, she turned to us with an odd expression on her face.

"I've got good news, bad news, and worse news. What do you want to hear first?" she asked in a sickly sweet tone.

I looked at Jerry and at the same time said, "Bad news." We looked at each other again and said, "Then worse news." I almost laughed at our synchronicity, but given the current situation, I stopped myself.

"And don't sugar-coat it," Jerry added before the nurse could say anything.

"Ok…" she said. "The bad news is that the crack in her skull has done some damage, but not enough to pose too many problems. The worse news is that she her brain is bleeding a little, she has a concussion, and she may have memory loss."

Tears pricked at the corners of my eyes, but I clenched my hands and kept my eyes on the nurse.

"But on the bright side, the breaks and fractures in her bones will be healed in no time!" she said with the most artificial smile I had ever seen, I was willing to bet that any robot could do better than that.

"Great…" I mumbled as she walked away. I sighed and looked at Jerry and tried to lighten the mood by asking, "Why are you so sweaty anyway?"

He looked up at me and smiled, "I biked all the way from class and it's really hot, I never got a car."

I threw my head back and laughed, "Are you serious? Jerry 'I'm going to be the first one to drive' Martinez never got a car? That's rich man!"

"Yo, don't make fun of me! How'd you get around in Japan? There's like, no room," he said cheekily. He was right though, and students weren't allowed to drive on campus.

"I had a bike," I mumbled under my breath.

"I'm sorry, what was that?" he asked, cupping a hand around his ear and leaning closer.

"I had a bike," I said again, a little louder.

"I'm sorry, one more time?" he said, scooting so he was almost sitting on me.

"I had a bike! Now get off!" I yelled, pushing him to the side and laughing again.

"I thought so," he said smugly, leaning back into his chair and smirking. I punched his arm, causing him to cry out in pain before he punched me back, harder. We continued like this for the rest of the day, ignoring the elephant in the room and just being friends. We both fell asleep in the waiting room, only to be shaken awake by the night guard, telling us to go home. Several weeks later, we got a call from the hospital.

* * *

"Hello?" I asked groggily into the phone, it was five-thirty in the morning and the phone had woken me up. I looked across the room to Jerry who was still sleeping like a rock and sighed.

"_Hello, is this Jackson Brewer or Jerry Martinez?" _said the voice on the other end.

"Uh, this is Jackson- Jack. What happened?" I asked quickly, there had to be a reason for the hospital to be calling so early.

"_There's been a development with Kimberly Crawford, and I'm calling to inform you that you may visit her today during regular visiting hours,"_ the voice said. I smiled a little and the voice continued. _"Please check the hospital's website for the visiting hours and if you need any more information, please, don't hesitate to call. Have a nice day." _

"Yeah, thanks. Have a nice day," I said, barely able to contain my happiness. Kim was finally okay for a visit! It had been weeks, and I had moved in with Jerry at his and Kim's apartment so that if anything happened, we'd be together to brave through it all.

I tried to shake him awake, but he wouldn't open his eyes. I tried playing his favorite song, tickling him, yelling in his ear, punching him, and even gave him four Wet Willies, but he wouldn't budge.

I sighed and made myself something to eat, deciding to let him wake up by himself before leaving for the hospital, he had to know what the person had told me.

Finally, four and a half hours later, Jerry emerged from the room and plopped down at the kitchen table. As I poured him a cup of coffee, I told him the news.

"Really? We can go see her?" he asked jubilantly. I nodded and he sprung up and did a silly dance, but hey, I wasn't judging. I still can't dance any better. "When can we go?" he asked.

"I looked up the visiting times and we could've gone starting at eight, but now its… Like ten fifteen. Get dressed and we can go now," I said, checking my watch then motioning back to the bedroom.

"Why didn't you wake me man?" he shouted as he sprinted to the bathroom to begin getting ready.

"Trust me Jerry, I tried," I said with a chuckle.

"Mell, woo dint ry ard eouh," he said, toothbrush in his mouth and hairbrush in hand. I pointed over to the sink and told him to spit out the toothpaste, there was only so much that I could understand him saying. "I said, you didn't try hard enough!" I just laughed and watched as he bounded back to the bedroom and got dressed, reappearing fully dressed and ready to go.

We drove to the hospital in an uncomfortable yet excited silence, the air was literally buzzing. We ran through the doors and spoke to the receptionist, this time it was a man, and he got a nurse to lead us to Kim's room.

On the way there, we were told that she was making good time for her recovery and that the crack in her skull had been stapled shut (I for one thought that it must've hurt like hell) but that she had some memory loss. I suddenly got really nervous and started to wonder if she'd remember me. I snapped out of it though, of course she'd remember me.

We were led into her room, number 311, and the scene was indescribable, but I'll try anyway. The whole room was white, save for the alternating blue and tan tiles on the floor and the stainless steel appliances and bed frame. She lay in her bed, eyes closed and there was a bandage wrapped around her head. It was then that I noticed that her hair was gone, most likely shaved for easier access to the crack. The rest of her body was bandaged, bundled, or encased in plaster casts, her leg elevated like in movies. There was a heart monitor, keeping up with her heartbeat and several other machines hooked up to her frail looking body. I almost cried, but then I saw her mother, staring at her and being strong for her baby girl, so I wiped my face and held my head high for her.

When Kim's mom saw us, she rushed forward and tackled us in a hug, although I took most of the force of the hug.

"Jack, thank you for everything you did for Kim. Jerry, thank you for being there for her through everything, although I suspect you want to be alone," she said eyes shining with tears.

"If, if you don't mind Mrs. Crawford," Jerry said quietly, placing a hand on her upper arm.

"Of course not boys, she's all yours," she said, rushing out of the room. I heard her choked sobs from inside the room, and I felt horrible for her. If this was hard on Jerry and me, I couldn't even begin to fathom how much worse it had to be for Mrs. Crawford.

We both walked up to her, one on either side of the hospital bed. Simultaneously, we each grabbed a hand and knelt by her bedside and Jerry began to talk to her.

"Hey Kim, ¿cómo estás? Despierta para nosotros, vamos," he whispered in Spanish. "Wake up, come on Kim."

Then it was my turn, "Hey Kim, I'm home. I'm here, for you. Open your beautiful eyes for me let me see you smile. I love you."

We stayed like that for what felt like forever, until her eyes fluttered open and she looked at Jerry.

"J-Jerry? Where am I? What happened?" she asked, blinking slowly. Jerry explained and she watched him, confusion clear in her face. "Wait, I don't know anybody named Jack…"

"What?" I choked out, almost afraid to get her to look at me. I didn't want to see when she didn't recognize me.

"Who are you?" she asked, yanking her hand away and wincing in pain as she did so.

"It's me… It's Jack honey," I said quietly, hoping she'd remember me. She looked at me and shook her head. "Do you really not remember me Kim? We were best friends, I'm pretty sure we liked each other, at least that's what you said in your letter to me when I left for Japan…" Her eyes were dull and she really didn't remember who I was.

"Kim, do you really now know who he is?" Jerry asked. She shook her head again. "Then how do you remember me?"

"I don't know. But we live together, right? Are we dating?" she asked, yawning when she finished.

"No, we aren't dating Kim. You like Jack," Jerry said, looking over at me. I didn't look at either of them; I just stared at her sheets, pretending they were the most interesting things in the world.

"How can I like someone I've never met?" she said harshly.

"Come on, I know she didn't mean it like that man," he said to me, and I realized I had a tear running down my cheek. Well, it was more than a tear, but I hadn't noticed up until then.

"Yes, yes she did mean it like that Jerry. She doesn't remember me. It's, it's okay Kim," I said, getting up and walking out of the room. I knew I shouldn't have done that, I should've stayed and cleared everything up, but I couldn't handle Kim not remembering who I was. I sunk down to the floor next to the door, I could hear Jerry and Kim talking, but it was more of a mumble that I could hear, and I couldn't make out what they were saying. Minutes later, Jerry came out, saying that she'd fallen asleep and that he was sorry. I waved him off, and he said he'd wait downstairs for me. I watched him as he made his way to the elevator and when he was out of sight, I sighed and went back into Kim's room.

If she didn't remember who I was, if I couldn't talk to her, I'd at least wanted to look at her before I left. I pulled up a chair next to the bed and examined her face. There were a few scratches here and there, but her face was smooth and worry-free as she slept. She was gorgeous. And she wasn't mine.

I'd had enough; it hurt to even be near her, so I decided it was time for me to go.

"Goodbye Kim, I still love you, you know that right?" I whispered as I leaned in and kissed her on her cheek, the first and only time I thought I'd kiss her. I turned away and opened the door before a small voice stopped me dead in my tracks.

"Jack?"

* * *

**A/N: Ah, so that's it! The end of the Welcome Home trilogy ;) Did you guys like it? Sorry for making you wait so long for the last part, things have been a little hectic since we moved and everything. If anyone didn't get it, the beginning is written in the receptionist's point of view, I just thought it'd be interesting to write and read. **

**I know _somebody_ is going to be all "OMG update soon, I need to know what happens next!" so I'm just going to say it now so nobody's disappointed or offended when I start a new one-shot, this is the END. The literal end of this story had just happened, it just casually ends with her remembering Jack, ok? That's it ;) **

**As always, thank you for reading and I hope you all liked it! **


	29. Tropical Tournament

Rudy pranced into the dojo on a particularly hot July day, blabbering on about how he had something important to tell us. He had been repeating the same line all week, "Guys, I have big, BIG news for you!" We had asked him several times already to just spill the beans and tell us, be he insisted on waiting until Friday to tell us all.

"So, are you ready to hear the news?" he asked, literally shaking where he stood from all the excitement.

"What news?" Jerry asked, confused as always.

"You know, the news he's been jabbering about all week?" Milton said as he joined us on the floor. It was too hot to work out and Rudy's announcement was a welcome excuse to just lie around the dojo and try to cool down.

"Just tell us already," Jack huffed, wiping the sweat off his face with a small towel and sitting up next to me. Seizing the opportunity I flopped to the side and used his lap as a pillow, the heat was making me light-headed and dizzy.

"Kiiiiim… Move," he said, poking at my shoulder. I groaned and refused, asking him instead to pass me his water bottle. He huffed again and handed it over, I took a long gulp and looked up at him as he watched Rudy. His face was red and no matter how much he wiped it away, beads of sweat would continue to form on his upper lip and forehead.

Milton and Jerry weren't doing so hot either. Both were sweating like pigs and everyone, including myself, was shirtless and had their shorts rolled up as high as I would permit them. On any normal occasion, all three boys would be oogling over the fact that I only wore a sports bra, but I think it was just too hot for them to care at the moment.

"Just tell us the news Rudy, I want to dive into a pool of ice water," I moaned, flailing my arms around for emphasis until Jack pulled them back down and pinned them at my sides.

"Oh! Right!" he said, feigning ignorance. "So I have big news-"

"WE KNOW ALREADY!" we all yelled in unison.

"Okay, okay. Jeez teenagers sure get cranky when it's hot," he mumbled as he flopped down on the mats that were stacked behind him. "I guess you guys don't want to participate in the tournament I signed you all up for… And here I was, about to take you four to Miami… Oh well! I guess I'll just take Bethany for a week of fun in Florida instead…" he said with a sneaky smirk. We all sat up, quick as a bolt of lightening and began firing questions at once.

"Did you just say Miami?" I squealed.

"Will there be hot babes?" Jerry asked quickly.

"You have sunscreen, right? Because I have really sensitive skin-" Milton rambled.

"How did you even get us in the tournament?" Jack asked excitedly.

Rudy held up a hand, "Hush young ones, Papa Rudy will answer all your questions." I rolled my eyes, but listened regardless. "Yes Kim, you heard me right. I did say Miami," he said as he turned to me.

"Jerry, there probably will be 'hot babes' in Miami," he said to a very excited Jerry, putting air quotes around 'hot babes.' "Milton I have sunscreen but if you need more, you're buying it yourself. And I'm not budging on that."

"And Jack, I pulled some strings with my sensei friends," he said with a wink. "I talked to your parents and Jerry, there are some things you need to take care of before tomorrow; Milton, you need to make sure you finish your homework; Kim, your mom needs to talk to you first; and Jack, your mom asked me to remind you not to get too crazy since she's in Cincinnati right now."

We all started talking to one another as we got up and went to get our bags, abandoning the rest of practice and skipping the locker rooms. We were going to sweat on the way home anyway, so why take a shower if you'd waste it anyway?

"And you all need to be here at nine o'clock tomorrow morning so we can get to the airport on time. We can't be late, there's a connection in Houston that we really can't miss. Got it?" Rudy asked as we made our way to the door, buzzing with excitement.

"Got it," we all yelled, waving goodbye as we exited the dojo.

"Wait!" I said loudly, turning back and poking my head through the door. "How long is the tournament? Or rather, how long are we in Miami?"

Rudy glanced at his phone and then turned up to me and said, "A week and a half, the whole week being the tournament and then four days to do whatever we want."

"Thanks!" I said quickly as I turned and ran to catch up to the guys that had quite rudely left without waiting for me.

* * *

When I got home, I made a beeline for my mom's stay-at-home office that she was working at that day. Rudy had told me that she had wanted me to talk to her before anything happened and I decided to get that over with before I started to pack.

"Mama?" I called, as I sprinted up the stairs.

"In here!" she called from her office. I followed her voice into the contemporary office she kept upstairs and flopped on the floor next to her desk.

"Rudy just told us about the tournament in Miami, and he said you wanted to talk to me, so what's up?" I asked, looking up at her as she read and answered emails that always seemed to pile up.

"Oh yeah, that," she said distractedly. "I'm meeting up with your daddy to go over some _things_ that were leftover from the divorce that week, so I might not be home by the time you get back. I'm leaving tonight after dinner, so I wanted to make sure I gave you some things."

"Hold up, there's still stuff to do with the divorce? Didn't that happen like, three years ago?" I questioned, surprised that there were _still_ things to resolve regarding their divorce.

"Yeah hun, just some stuffy legal things, nothing for you to worry about," she said, signaling that we were done talking about that. "Anyway, you're going to need money, no self-respecting Southern woman is going to let anyone pay for her on a trip. And your passport is in there too," she said, handing me a manila envelope like the ones that used to contain my report cards. I emptied the contents onto the floor, taken aback by the amount of money that came out of that envelope.

"Mama, I can't take this. Rudy's fine paying, and if I need anything else, I can just use my money. If anything, I can borrow money from Jack and pay him back when we get home. It's not a big deal," I said quickly, stuffing the money back into the envelope and trying to give it back to her.

"No Kimmy, take it. You never know what could happen and I'm not going to be there with you so I want to be sure that if you're in any kind of trouble that you'll be okay. Just take it," she said, lightly pushing the envelope back into my hands.

"Are you sure?" I asked one more time, just to be sure.

"Positive, dear," she said with a smile. "Now go pack! If you're anything like your mama you're going to be up all night just deciding what to wear!" She shooed me out of her office and into my room, helping me take the suitcase down from the top shelf of my closet. "If you need anything, just holler!"

I glanced at the pink suitcase and made a face, moving over to my closet to decide what I should take. I sat on the floor and made a mental list of what I'd need during the trip.

"_My tournament gi, workout clothes, shorts, jeans, tee shirts and tank tops, a nice set of clothes just in case, pajamas, a bathing suit, underclothes, a jacket, and toiletries,"_ I thought, ticking things off on my fingers. It sounded like an awful lot to take but if even one thing was missing I'd have a freak-out on the trip, and that was _not_ going to happen.

I started by finding my tournament gi, the one with the 'BEST KICKER' patch on it, and placing it neatly into the bottom of the suitcase. Next I picked out a few sports bras and workout shorts, along with two or three Bobby Wasabi tee shirts, and tossing them in as well. I had no problem picking out the casual clothes but when it came to the dressier outfit, I was at a standstill. I didn't want to be too fancy, but I didn't want to look as if I had just rolled out of bed… So I called Jack.

"_Hello?"_ he said as he picked up.

"Hey Jack, I need a little help…" I said sheepishly.

"_What, you can't decide what to pack?"_ he asked with a chuckle.

"Yes…" I grumbled. "I want to take something a bit nicer just in case we go out or something, but I'm not sure what to actually choose."

"_How about that blue skirt and white shirt you wore to Milton's award ceremony last month? Or the red dress you wore when we went to dinner last week?" _he suggested. I blushed, not realizing how much attention he actually paid to what I was wearing, and even more at the fact that he remembered when we had dinner together a week ago.

"Um, thanks. That's perfect Jack, you're a lifesaver!" I said with a smile.

"_No problem Kim, see you tomorrow. Although I'm not sure what you're freaking out about, you look beautiful in anything…"_ he said, mumbling the last sentence.

"What?" I asked, not hearing the last bit properly.

"_N-nothing! Bye!" _he said, hanging up the phone quickly. I shrugged, a bit confused, but quickly brushed it off in favor of finishing up the packing. I dashed around my room, gathering the last few things I needed before my mom called me down for dinner. After she left, I went back up to my room to finish stuffing everything into my suitcase before laying out my outfit for the next day and calling it a night.

* * *

My alarm went off the next morning at seven forty-five, shocking me awake with its loud trilling. I groggily got up and dragged myself to the bathroom for a quick, cold shower before getting ready to go. Since I had a little over an hour, I decided I could take my time getting dressed. After I got out of the shower, I put on some light makeup, tried to tame my blonde locks with multiple hair products, and pulled on my clothes. I donned some really soft jeans with a few holes in them, a yellow tank top, a hoodie of questionable origins, and my black chucks.

I looked down at the sleeves of the jacket that was clearly several sizes too big and asked myself, "Seriously, who's was this?" At that exact moment, my phone buzzed three times, telling me that I had that number of unread messages.

I unlocked my phone to find a text from each of the guys:

Jack: Morning Kim, want me to come get you?

Jerry: Yo, mamacita, need a ride?

Milton: Kim, I just got a new bike. Want a ride to the dojo?

I smiled, each was pretty nice for asking if I wanted a ride to the dojo, but I new I could only accept to one. I already knew whom I wanted to get to the dojo with, so I sent a quick 'thanks but no thanks' text to Milton and Jerry and accepted Jack's offer.

He replied quickly with: Great, I've been outside your house for a solid ten minutes. :)

I smiled and grabbed my suitcase ready to eat some breakfast and go, but when I read the text again I did a double take. Was it really that late? I glanced up at the time and saw that it was eight-fifty! If I didn't hurry, Jack and I would be late!

I sprinted down the stairs as I checked my bag for the money, my passport, the house keys, and my cell phone. I dashed into the kitchen to try to find something to eat, but everything required cooking so I spun around and ran to the door, trying to reach Jack's car as quickly as I could.

"Good morning sunshine, someone looks flustered," Jack said with a grin as I sat down with a huff in the passenger seat.

"Yeah well, we're about to be late!" I said, still trying to catch my breath. "I didn't even eat breakfast…" My stomach grumbled, and I put a hand to it. "I know, I know, now shut up you bottomless pit!"

Jack chuckled and handed me a bag and a cup before pulling out of the driveway and in the direction of the dojo, "I suspected that this would happen, so I brought you some breakfast. Soy latte and marble pound cake from Starbucks, your favorite." I smiled and started to dig in, the warmth from the coffee running down my throat and the delicious cake stopping my hunger.

"Thanks so much Jack, you're too good to me," I said with a grin after I had crumpled the bag that had once contained the pound cake.

"Anything for my best friend," he said, pulling into the parking lot behind the dojo. Well, the parking lot behind the mall. "By the way, is that my hoodie?"

"I guess it is..." I said slowly. "I honestly have no clue where this came from, so it's pretty likely that it's yours. Sorry."

"It's fine, it looks a lot better on you than it would on me," he said with the smallest smile ever, which caused me to blush bright red.

I checked the time again to get my eyes off of his lopsided and irresistible smile, eight fifty-seven!

"Jack! Let's go!" I said, jumping out of the car and pulling my suitcase out from the back, urging him to hurry up. He followed my lead and we both sprinted to the dojo where everybody was already waiting for us. When we arrived, Rudy looked at us and shook his head.

"You were _this_ close to being late. Now let's go, before we miss our flight!" he said, pushing us all back through to the parking lot and into a large van that none of us knew he owned. Seeing our faces he clarified, "Bethany lent it to me for the ride to the airport. She uses it at school." We all gave vague nods as we stuffed our bags into the back and flopped down on the soft seats.

"I call shotgun!" Jerry yelled as he ran around the side and positioned himself in the passenger seat, sticking out his tongue as we rolled our eyes from the comfort of the back seat.

After five minutes of listening to Milton ramble on about the importance of sunscreen and Jerry and Rudy's rendition of 'Call Me Maybe,' I had decided that enough was enough. I pulled out my phone and untangled my earbuds, and played my music peacefully for all of about twenty seconds until Jack hijacked one of the buds and put it in his ear as well. I was about to protest before he cut me off.

"I can't stand it anymore," he said with a sheepish grin and I chose a different song for us to listen to, forgetting what I was going to say. We stayed like that for the remainder of the ride to the nearest airport, which all the way in Stockton.

* * *

**A/N: Well hello there! I hope everybody's having a good summer! So I know that this could probably be it's own fic but if I made it it's own thing I would never ever remember to update _(kind of reminds me of a certain other fanfic I have...) _so I decided to put it here... I know it doesn't look like it has the usual... er- _melancholy tone_ to it, but maybe you like that _(I'm certain you most likely do)_ but you know yolo. Just kidding but I am going to make it something like that an it will probably be somewhat longer than all the other one/two/three-shots that are chillin here, but again, maybe you like that. I don't know. And that was a pretty bad ramble so I'll just cut to the chase and thank you all for reading and reviewing and for all the follows and favorites that I've received! Thanks! Love you all and I hope you liked the beginning of Tropical Tournament!**


	30. Tropical Tournament Part 2

We had finally arrived at Miami International Airport, after a few scares along the way. On the flight from Seaford to Houston, the plane was jolting so much that Milton used several puke bags, I almost broke Jack's hand from holding it so tightly, Jerry was having a panic attack the whole time, and Rudy passed out for a few minutes from stress. Once we got off that deathtrap, we almost missed our flight to Miami, and we had to sprint from gate A to gate D in less than three minutes. And let me tell you, that airport was _huge_. The flight to our final destination was relatively okay compared to the first one, but it still gave us a scare on the landing, so much so that that flight attendants had to give us last-minute instructions on what to do in the event of a crash over the intercom. Thankfully we arrived unharmed, but we were all glad to be on stable land again.

We all had our windows closed for several reasons, mainly because we didn't want to see what Miami was like until we were out of the airport for good, so we didn't know what the weather was like until we had gotten our bags and stood under the metal roof that sheltered us from the intense downpour that was occurring.

"Isn't Miami supposed to be all sunshiny and warm?" I huffed as I zipped up Jack's hoodie and crossed my arms over my body.

"Well, although it's nicknamed 'The Sunshine State,' Florida gets a lot of rain during the summer and this time is also hurricane season," Milton said as we watched Rudy and Jerry trying to hail a taxi.

"Yeah, I expected it to be all nice and sunny, not gross and rainy," Jack said as he tucked back a few loose strands of his perfect hair, trying to keep it from getting ruined by the humidity. I had given up on my hair in Houston and piled it all on my head in a messy bun.

"Yeah well you shouldn't believe _every_ stereotype you hear," Milton said as he rolled his eyes and straightened his sweater-vest.

"Wooooo!" we heard in the distance, and when the three of us turned to find Jerry, we saw that they had finally managed to hail a cab. We picked up our bags and walked the considerable distance to the bright yellow car and dumped our things into the back before taking our places in the backseat.

It was a little cramped in the back of that taxi… Okay it was a lot cramped. I ended up half-sitting on Jack's lap and Milton was sprawled across Jerry while Rudy sat comfortably in the passenger seat telling the driver where we were going. I blushed when I noticed how I was sitting, and even more when Jack put his hand on my knee.

"Sorry," he said, moving his hand a little and blushing up at me. I shook my head and we shared a look before we were both sufficiently embarrassed and I decided to look out the window before I started to shake or the guys cracked a joke.

We were on the highway and really couldn't see anything of what made Miami famous, and I was a little disappointed that I couldn't see the ocean from where we were but I quickly dismissed the idea, thinking about how stupid I was to believe that you could see the beach from the highway.

When we pulled up to the hotel that was hosting the tournament, a huge banner that read, "Welcome Karate Students" in big, bold letters, greeted us at the entrance.

"Fancy," Jerry said in awe as the driver parked in front of the hotel doors that led to a very nicely decorated lobby. Rudy paid the man and we all gathered our things, watching as Rudy got our room keys and competition passes. He walked back with a weird look on his face, and I knew something was up.

"Well, we have a little bit of a problem here…" he said as he held up two room keys. "I had originally booked three rooms, one for me, a bigger one for the boys, and one for Kim, but they overbooked and someone else has our last room… I can take two people in my suite, but Kim has to share a room with someone." For some reason, when Rudy said his last sentence, all the guys just looked at Jack who stood next to me, his hand dangerously close to mine.

"I'm pretty sure who Kim wants to share the room with so we can all just go upstairs," Rudy said as he handed the second key card to Jack and started off to the elevators with Jerry and Milton in tow.

"S-sorry," Jack mumbled. "You don't mind, do you?" I shook my head, too embarrassed to speak, and followed the guys to the elevators. We were on the fourth floor and when the doors opened, we began the search for our rooms. Jack and I were in room 431 while the rest of the group was in room 465, all the way on the opposite end of the hallway. Great.

"Well, we'll see you in a bit," Milton said as he led the way down the hallway, leaving me and Jack to find our room alone with the sound of Jerry's incessant talking as the only sound.

"We should uh, look for our room then," Jack said as he shifted uncomfortably on his feet and fumbled with the room key.

"Uh, yeah," I said, pushing a rogue lock of hair behind my ear. We started off down the hallway and finally reached our room, a large two-bed suite with an equally spacious bathroom and small kitchen included.

"Holy crap!" Jack breathed as we entered what would be our home for the next week and a half. I shuffled in and dropped my things at the door, ran up to the nearest bed and flopped on it.

"I call dibs!" I said as I bounced on the soft mattress, watching Jack as he explored the room. He came out of the bathroom with a little bottle in his hand, looking pretty pleased with his find.

"They have hairspray. This is heaven in a room," he said completely seriously as he sunk to my bed and lied beside me.

"Hey, hey, hey. My bed. This isn't going to be a problem Brewer, is it?" I asked mischievously. He blushed and stood up immediately, shaking his head and retreating into the bathroom as I yelled after him, "It was a joke Jack, lighten up! I'd much rather share a room with you than with Jerry or Milton." I shuddered, thinking of the many horrible scenarios that could've happened if Jack weren't sharing my room.

"That makes me feel slightly better," he said with a grin as he came back out and started to unpack. I watched him as he neatly organized his drawer, leaving me the top two for my clothes. "Stop watching me! I feel weird!"

"Oh really?" I asked with a grin. "Are you sure it's not because you don't want me to see your underwear?" He blushed bright red and turned around, shutting his suitcase.

"Oh come on, it's not like I've never seen you in your underwear before!" I joked. "You look pretty good in your lime green boxers!"

"Kim!" he hollered, still not looking at me. I could tell he was extremely embarrassed and I decided to stop there.

"Alright, fine. I'm taking a shower, enjoy unpacking alone," I said, holding my hands up in defeat for a second before rummaging in my suitcase for my shampoo and other bath items.

"I will, thank you very much," he said as he watched me. It looked as if he was waiting for me to leave to actually start unpacking again, he _really_ felt uncomfortable with me seeing his underwear!

After scrubbing off the unmentionable dirtiness I felt after being in three different airports and two different planes, I was clean and smelling like peaches. I wrapped myself in a towel and exited the bathroom, ready to change into my pajamas and take a nap.

"Mm, peaches," Jack said as I came out of the bathroom. I let out a little shriek; I had totally forgotten that Jack was in there! "Relax, my eyes are closed," he said and I when looked up at him, his eyes really were closed.

"Th-thanks," I mumbled quickly. "If you want to take a shower, go ahead, the bathroom's all yours."

"Thank you," he said as he got up and stumbled around the room, eyes still closed.

"You can look you know, but just so you can get into the bathroom," I said as I felt my cheeks burning again. He let out an awkward 'okay' and dashed to the door without so much as glancing in my direction.

"_Huh, what a sweetie,"_ I thought as I waited for the shower to turn on. _"Say what you want about Jack Brewer, but he's quite a gentleman."_

Once I was sure that Jack wasn't going to come out for a while, I changed into my pajamas, which consisted of loose black shorts that were too short to wear out in public and a pink tank top. I brushed out my long, damp hair and braided it down my back to reduce the frizz I'd have to deal with later. I was about to flop down in bed and take a nap before I got a text from Rudy.

_We r going 2 dinner. Dress nice._

I sighed, dinner was the last thing I wanted to do right now, but when I checked the time I was shocked to see that it was already seven and that I was subconsciously hungry. I sent a quick reply to Rudy and pulled out the outfit I'd wear, the first suggestion that Jack had made. It was a royal blue skirt that puffed out a little at my hips and then flowed down to mid-thigh with the hem a shocking neon yellow, and a thin white long-sleeved shirt that I tucked in. I had brought along my black suede heels that matched perfectly with the outfit and a chain with a neon yellow pendant that I had received from Jerry for my birthday the year before. When I laid it all out on my bed, I decided that I should tell Jack about the dinner plans but as I started to the bathroom door, he came out in a cloud of steam and his trademark mint and vanilla smell wearing only a towel that was pretty low and showed his v-lines.

"You like what you see?" Jack teased when he saw me staring. I brought up my hands to cover my eyes quick as a flash and he chuckled, insisting that he was kidding.

"Yeah well Rudy said we were going out to dinner so get dressed," I said quickly, feeling the heat rising to my cheeks again, and it wasn't from the steam. I heard some footsteps, the opening and closing of a drawer, and then Jack's voice.

"You can look now, I'm in the bathroom," he called. I opened my eyes, only to find that he was still standing right in front of me, holding his clothes. In fact, he was closer to me than before.

"Jack!" I yelled, pushing him toward the bathroom and slamming the door behind him. I slid down to the floor and brought my hands up to my cheeks, and sure enough, they were burning hot. "Don't ever do that again."

"Okay, I'm sorry," he called from behind the door, and I could hear him changing. Before I could conjure up an image of him… _Without his towel_, I stood up and went back to change, shaking the thought out of my head. Jack came out as I was re-braiding my hair in a French braid and I went to the sink to put on some makeup.

"You don't have to put on makeup," he said as I walked past him. I could barely hear it, but I had, and I felt compelled to argue with his statement.

"Oh yes I do, how else do you think I'd look good every day?" I asked, one hand on my hip as the other held my eyeliner.

"By just standing there," he mumbled, thoroughly embarrassed as he ran a hand through his still-damp hair.

"Well that's sweet, but untrue," I said, turning back to the mirror and drawing a thin black line on my eyelids and applying a few coats of mascara. When I came out, there was a knock on the door and when Jack opened it, the guys were all there, and looking pretty good I might add.

"Give me a sec!" I said as I scurried to my bed to put on my shoes and grab my purse. "Let's go!" We all made our way down to the lobby and Rudy asked the clerk at the front desk if there were any good places to eat within walking distance. She said there was an Outback about five minutes away, but that because it was still raining, that she'd call us one of the hotel cars to give us a ride.

"It's still raining?" Jerry asked, looking out the window at the sheets of water that were falling from the sky with an impressive force. We all went to stand by him and watch as the rain fell while we waited for the car to come.

"I wonder when it'll stop," Milton said before looking at the forecast on his phone. "Holy Christmas nuts, it's going to be raining all of next week!"

I groaned, "I guess that means I won't be able to get my tan on…"

"Better for me," Milton said, "because then I won't have to worry about my delicate skin getting burned to a crisp." I rolled my eyes and just then, the car that would take us to dinner pulled up.

* * *

When we sat down at the table, it was no surprise that I ended up on one side next to Jack. We ordered our drinks, coke for Jerry, water for Milton, beer for Rudy, and lemonade for Jack and me, and I caught sight of a TV to my left. It was tuned to the weather channel and it was depicting a nasty looking storm drenching the poor reporter that was onscreen. The headline read, "Hurricane Chantal Hits Key West." I gasped as the screen changed in favor of a prediction of where the hurricane would hit, and Miami was right inside the yellow cone that I had always called the Cone of Death!

"Jack, look," I said, grabbing his arm and pointing to the screen. Although we couldn't hear anything, we learned that it was a category four by now and that it was most likely heading to where we were.

"I hope it doesn't affect the tournament," Rudy said as he sipped his beer and watched the screen.

"Me neither yo, it could ruin our vacation," Jerry sighed. Milton added in some technical and scientific fact about hurricanes that I don't remember and I got extremely worried. I had never liked nature's bad side, all bad storms and natural disasters absolutely terrified me, and Hurricane Chantal was no exception. I was so worried in fact, that I barely paid any attention to the dinner and the moment we returned to the hotel, I turned on the TV to the weather channel and sat on my bed to watch the predictions and shots from Key West.

"Go change Kim," Jack said, motioning to my clothes. I still had on my dinner outfit, and I hadn't even bothered to take off my heels or anything. I nodded and went to the bathroom to wash my face and put on my pajamas, feeling extremely tired from the day's events.

When I came back out, I saw that the TV was off, my sheets were untucked and waiting for me to curl up underneath them, and Jack was standing by the light switch, waiting for me to get into bed so he could turn out the lights.

I was about to protest when Jack said, "Kim, we have the tournament tomorrow morning, you need to sleep. We can watch the weather tomorrow when we're getting ready but not now. Go to bed, you need your energy." With a yawn, I nodded and crawled into bed, lightening lighting up the room as Jack got into his bed too.

"Goodnight Kim," he said sleepily.

"Goodnight Jack…" I mumbled, pretty sure that Jack was already asleep and therefore didn't hear me. My dreams that night were filled with horrible scenes with hurricane disaster.

* * *

**A/N: Welp, that's part two of Tropical Tournament! I got the name for the hurricane from a list that the weather people are using for this year, so if there really is a Hurricane Chantal this year, I wonder what it'll be like. (please not above category 2...) So I know that a lot of fics with Miami in them depict the sunny skies and nice sandy beaches, but everybody in the world ever that doesn't live in Miami doesn't know that it really isn't always like that. I mean, it rains there too! So yeah, that's the bad and somewhat dangerous side of my gorgeous Miami, (I miss it already...) and I wonder what's going to happen with H.C.! Thanks for reading and for all the awesome reviews!**


	31. Tropical Tournament Part 3

"Kim," a voice called through my slumber. I felt a nudge and suddenly the blankets disappeared from the bed and my eyes flew open and I saw a face hovering over me. I drew in a breath, not expecting the sudden wakeup call, and rolled over on my other side.

"What time is it?" I mumbled into the mattress, closing my eyes again and trying to snuggle into the softness of the sheets below me.

"It's six thirty," I heard Jack say from the side of the bed. I rolled back over and cracked my eyes open to see him kneeling by the nightstand looking at me, and I instantly blushed. "Don't stare at me like that!" I grabbed a pillow and conked him on the head with it before sitting up and reaching for the remote.

"How'd you sleep last night?" I asked absentmindedly as I flipped through the cable channels searching for the news and weather channel I had been watching the night before.

He shrugged and said, "Better than you I'm guessing." I blinked, not understanding. "Well, you were curled up in the middle of the bed this morning when I woke up, underneath all the blankets and pillows. It seems like you had a hard time falling asleep with the storm." I looked around on the bed, realizing that I was in fact sitting plumb in the middle of the mattress and there was a mass of sheets and pillows surrounding me.

"Yeah well, I'm not the biggest fan of storms," I said sheepishly, turning back to the TV and hoping he didn't catch the odd expression I was sure I was making. "Aha," I said as I found the correct channel and turned up the volume, ready for the latest update on Hurricane Chantal.

"-Making it's way to the Miami area," said the smartly dressed woman on the television.

Jack and I both looked at each other before yelling, "WHAT?!" before turning back to the TV with wide eyes and open ears.

"-Should be near Homestead by Tuesday, Miami should be starting to feel the effects by then and worsening into Wednesday, so be safe folks and stay tuned to Channel Four News for the latest updates," she said as the Channel 4 logo flashed across the screen before cutting to commercials, and I muted it.

"It's-" I said, looking wide-eyed at Jack with the remote still in my hand.

"Yeah," he said calmly, giving me a look I couldn't decipher.

"But," I whispered, starting to panic. My heart started pounding incredibly hard and I couldn't seem to catch my breath. We were going to be in a hurricane. A hurricane was coming. I'd never been in a hurricane! Earthquakes and snowstorms I could handle, but hurricanes? Impossible.

"Kim, breathe. Slowly, in and out," Jack said, reaching for my shoulder and breathing deeply, motioning for me to mimic him. After several seconds, I could breathe again and he let go of my shoulders and sitting back next to me.

"It's going to be fine Kim, if anything happens we'll just be evacuated and we'll be in a hurricane shelter. There's nothing to worry about," he said in a soothing voice, looking at the television, which now displayed a commercial for a man that buys and sells cars independently.

"But what if-" I started to say.

"What if a train comes crashing through the window? Go change or we'll be late to breakfast and the tournament. Girls are up first," he said, cutting me off and pulling me off the bed, motioning to the drawers.

"But I didn't unpack last night, where's my suitcase?" I asked, confused for a moment.

"I woke up earlier this morning for some reason and your suitcase was bothering me- it was like spilling over with your clothes- and I unpacked it for you," he said, shoving his hands into the pockets of his sweatpants. I have him a look before he quickly said, "Your uh, _underclothes_ are still in your suitcase, I didn't touch them."

"Neat freak," I said as I tossed my ponytail over my shoulder and grabbed all my bras and underwear and shoved them into a drawer at random before choosing my special "tournament only" sports bra and my gi. I saw Jack wince when he saw how carelessly I had thrown my clothes in and I just smiled sweetly as I passed him on my way to the bathroom. "Don't even think about cleaning that up," I said with an overly sweet tone before I shut the door. When I was done getting dressed, Jack said that everyone else had already gone to breakfast so we should go downstairs as well.

Upon entering the breakfast area, my mouth dropped open at the sight of the foods. The sheer amount of it could've made Eddie pass out, if he were there. I scanned the room for a waffle machine and lo and behold, there it was, next to the juice bar and a big metal box that I had no idea what it could do.

"Hey, look," Jack said, pointing to where Rudy, Jerry, and Milton were sitting and we made our way to them as quickly as possible, trying hard not to bump into any of the other people competing in the tournament. Upon a quick inspection, it seemed like I was the only one in my tournament gi and I instantly felt self-conscious.

"Why isn't anyone else in their gi? I feel weird!" I mumbled, plopping down in the seat closest to me. Rudy just explained that since the guys weren't up until the evening, that they didn't see the purpose of getting dressed yet. I shrugged and my stomach growled, signaling that it was time to get to the waffle machine and I excused myself from the table, Jack following close behind.

"Jerry said something about a 'Magic Pancake Box' near the waffle maker, I wonder what that's about," Jack said as we passed the fruit bar. I got curious too, and as we got closer to our destination, I instantly knew what Jerry had been talking about. That box that I had seen earlier? It had a conveyer belt in it and it literally _made_ you the pancakes inside, plopping them out onto your plate when they were finished. Jack ended up getting those while I made myself a fluffy waffle, my body ready for the warmth of the pastry.

When we returned to the table, Rudy gave me a pep talk that would've been pretty inspiring were it not for the pieces of omelet flying out of his mouth and the drops of coffee dribbling down his chin. I had to ask him several times to please stop talking with his mouth open, but once Rudy got into pep-talk-mode, there was nothing that could stop him until he was through with his speech.

"We should get going if we want to find a place for Kim to warm up," Milton said, checking the time on his phone. We all nodded and finished clearing up our plates before heading over to the ballroom that had been transformed to fit the occasion with take-away bleachers and a temporary mat to compete on. There were already girls sweating in there, looking pretty menacing despite their lower belt colors. There was only one other black belt that I could see and she looked really tough, I was instantly intimidated.

"Okay Kim, get warm then we can work on your Dragon Kick," Rudy said, motioning for me to start stretching and such. An hour later, a voice came over the speakers and told us that the tournament would begin in twenty minutes and for us to wrap up our warm up soon. I took that as permission to flop down on the floor and close my eyes for a moment, trying to block out the stress and the nerves that had been attacking me from the moment I set foot in the ballroom. While a tough opponent could be the one to beat you, nervousness could be your downfall.

Fifteen minutes later everyone was seated and the tournament commenced. We began with the lower ranked people and made our way through the ranks, whittling down the number of people. I had beat most of my opponents fairly easily, working my way up to the semifinals, hearing the shouts and cheers from my teammates and sensei all the way through. We stopped for the morning, hearing that the semifinals would begin in an hour and that finals would be happening directly after that.

"You looked pretty swag-tastic out there yo," Jerry said, patting me on the back after I had crossed the room to join them. I smiled and fixed my ponytail, sitting down between Milton and Jack.

"Yeah, you did great Kim!" Milton said with a grin.

"You beat those girls so badly!" Rudy yelled, obviously pleased with my performance.

I blushed, "Come on, I wasn't _that_ good. I almost lost to that girl from Colorado…" Truthfully I didn't think I did that well, I couldn't concentrate the whole time because I had been worried about the hurricane the whole time. Would it actually come? Would it be bad? Would the tournament be cancelled? Would we have to evacuate? So many questions resonated in my head that I had a very hard time focusing on the match at hand.

"Kim?" Milton said, his voice cutting through the whirlwind of thoughts inside my head. I shook my head and focused my sight and saw him with his hand on my shoulder, motioning to the direction in which the guys were going. "We should go, you have to eat something before the finals later." I nodded and we caught up to the rest of the guys were and made our way to the hotel's restaurant for lunch. Although the food was good, the sound of rain, wind, and thunder was putting me on edge and I barely managed to pick at my chicken and salad.

"Jack, it sounds pretty bad out," I whispered, searching for his hand under the table as I stared out the window at the torrential downpour that was occurring. He captured my hand and gave it a light squeeze, reassuring me that everything was okay and that we'd be fine. No matter how many encouraging words Jack gave me, I still wasn't convinced and I was more nervous and fidgety than ever.

An hour later, I stood on the mats facing my newest opponent, a girl from Ohio with a red belt. She looked pretty strong, and my anxiety wasn't helping me seize up the situation. Almost without me being ready, she threw the first punch, which I scrambled to block. A quick jab with my left fist followed by a swift kick and she was sent to the edge of the mat. Before she could get up the lights flickered, shutting off completely in a matter of seconds.

The crowd remained generally calm and collected; save for one girlish scream that I'm almost positive was Jerry being over-dramatic. My heart started to race and the pitch black was practically suffocating me, thankfully people started using their phones as flashlights and within a few minutes the emergency lights kicked in, ridding the room of the extreme darkness.

The referee stepped into the middle of the space and explained that the tournament would be canceled until further notice and for us to please be careful on our way up the stairs to our rooms. He said if we wanted to be informed of what was going on, that we should turn on the news and weather channel on the cable TV and watch the broadcast on the hurricane. He dismissed my opponent and me, apologizing for the unexpected delay and assuring us that we'd be able to compete as soon as the hurricane passed and me.

The room fell into the buzz of a hushed murmur as everyone started to whisper about the sudden blackout and I hurried to where the gang was sitting.

"I wonder what that was all about…" Milton said as he moved over to make space for me on the bleachers.

"Aw man! The tournament's cancelled! This sucks," Jerry moped, crossing his arms and hunching over like a little kid. I sighed and rolled my eyes; sometimes he could be _so_ immature! Didn't he see that there was possibly a very strong hurricane about to hit us?

"We should go upstairs, I'm pretty sure Kim wants to watch the broadcast," Jack said, standing up and reaching over to help me up as well. The other three nodded and mumbled something about meeting up later and Jack and I started toward the stairs, following the crowd of people with the same idea.

"Are you okay?" Jack asked gently, making me notice that I was trembling.

"Y-yeah, I'm fine," I said rather unconvincingly. "Nobody _likes_ hurricanes…" Jack nodded and we began our ascent, four floors is a lot when you're using the stairs. By the time we reached our floor I had stopped shaking, instead, we were both breathing slightly heavier than normal and my legs were weak from the stairs. "Give me a minute," I said as I slid to the floor.

"Come on Kim, the room is right down the hall," Jack said, trying to get me to stand. When I made no motion to get up, Jack got frustrated and slung me over his shoulder and I for once didn't protest. I let him carry me down the hall and through the threshold of the room before he set me gently on my bed and went to get the remote. He tossed it to me and I started flipping through the channels again, thoroughly annoyed that the TV reset the channel every time you turned it off.

At last I reached the desired channel and I sat back to watch it, bracing myself for the worst.

"-Seems like the outer bands of Hurricane Chantal are reaching into the Miami-Dade and Broward Counties, bringing with them heavy rain and strong winds that could cause power outages in the area," said the news anchor. I let out a small sigh of relief; the hurricane wasn't here, _yet_. "Stay tuned for another update, this is Mindy Moore for Channel 4 news." The screen went black for a moment before switching to the commercials and I muted it, turning to Jack.

"Are we going to be okay?" I whispered, my voice barely cutting through the silence of the dim room.

"I-I think so," Jack mumbled, coming over and sitting on the edge of my bed. "The hurricane isn't here full force yet, we have some time before it gets really bad. Besides, if it does we can find a hurricane shelter. People here have lived through plenty of hurricanes before, it's going to be fine."

I nodded slightly, turning back to the TV to watch the silent commercials as we waited for the broadcast to come back on. It was going to be a long week.

* * *

**A/N: Okay ah so sorry for not updating in like forever but ugh I don't know life's been pretty busy... I hope you guys all liked this chapter and that its not too bad or anything I've literally tried to write this so many times it's been horrible and I've had a it of writer's block... Also school starts Monday for me so I won't be able to update as often but I'll try to update on the weekends...**

**I know this is really off topic but can you all give me your opinion on 'To Kill a Mockingbird' like I honestly HATE this book I've been trying to read it for weeks since its on the summer reading list and I'm not even halfway through it like I do not like this at all I don't understand how everyone ever loves this book so much. ugh. **

**As usual, thank you so much for reading and for the great reviews I love reading them all ;D See you guys next chapter! **


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